


Lost

by Sarah Problem (SarahProblem)



Series: Come With Me [17]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Complete, Episode: s03e09 The Tholian Web, Established Relationship, M/M, Married Couple, Married Kirk/McCoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 03:37:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 34,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16715861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarahProblem/pseuds/Sarah%20Problem
Summary: Pulled away early from the Goliath, the Enterprise is sent on a rescue mission that means crossing a border into Tholian space. And the Tholians would not take well to their presence. Can the Enterprise save the Defiant and its crew, discover what it was doing in someone else's territory, and get everyone home?





	1. Chapter 1

 

 Lost

by Sarah Problem

 

 

 

Doctor Leonard McCoy strode quickly into the crowded Ready Room and took the nearest empty seat. Settling in a chair between Scotty and Uhura, he put his PADD down in front of him and waited. Glancing around, McCoy could see and feel the tension in the room. All the department heads were quiet, exchanging worried glances with each other. After almost three weeks of traveling at top speed, they were within hours of their destination.

While three weeks was not enough notice for some situations, for this one it had almost been too much. Every department had had time to check and recheck their systems and supplies over and over. Even the gamepods had dropped in usage as the time passed. The crew was too somber to be in the mood for play.

Jim himself sat at the head of the table, concentrating on typing something into his desk computer. Spock, sitting in the seat next to Jim's, was unhelpfully stone-faced as he checked his own PADD.

 _If anything was going to pull us away from the Goliath before the Treamore and her support ships arrived, it would be a Starship in distress,_ McCoy thought grimly. _Three weeks on the way to rescue them, and we don't even know from what. I hate coming in blind to an ugly situation. So does everyone else. Especially Jim._

The orders from Starfleet had come in unexpectedly, marked Priority, and pulled Jim out of bed in the middle of Gamma shift almost three weeks ago. McCoy hadn't seen the orders himself, but Jim had related how grim Admiral Roberts had looked on the short vid that had accompanied the information packet. And the packet itself had been almost empty.

 _Hopefully, they've gotten more information on what's happened to the Defiant,_ McCoy thought. **_One_** _distress call, and **nothing** else in three weeks? That's scary shit, right there._

Jim pressed another button as soon as everyone had settled. A large holographic map appeared in the center of the table. The fine gold grid lines marking out the area of the holograph cube started to rotate, giving them a look at all sides. Most of it was so empty, McCoy almost hadn't recognized it as a star map the first time he'd seen it on their earlier briefing. About four-fifths of the area inside the grid cube was just empty space. Crowded on one side, undulating like a coastal shoreline on Risa, was what looked like a few swirls of colored dust and splatters of white dots. It was the same map Jim had shown them weeks ago.

 _Guess I didn't have any real idea of the scope of that emptiness._ McCoy thought, suddenly feeling very glad they were no longer that far in. _I wanted to get closer to home, but I wasn’t hoping for an emergency to do it. Especially when it's not our own home space we'll be returning to._

Jim looked around the table, checking to see that he had their attention.

"As you all know, nineteen days ago, while waiting for the _Treamore_ to arrive at the _Goliath_ , Starfleet received a distress call from the _Defiant_ , captained by Paul Ortega," Jim announced, nodding toward the hologram. He touched his screen, and a small yellow light appeared inside the empty area. It wasn't in the center but still was very far away from the edge of occupied space. "This is where we were."

Another touch on the screen and two small lights started blinking. One red and one green. They were both on the edge of the line between empty and occupied space.

Fingertips together, Jim reached out over the table and touched the red spot on the hologram. He spread his fingers to zoom in. The group of stars grew to take over the map, and the emptiness disappeared, leaving only a thin line along the edge. The green light was still in the black area. The red closer to the star systems.

"The green is our current position, fifteen hours from possible contact with the _Defiant_ ," Jim announced as he turned toward the head of the table to sit. "But thirteen hours outside of Tholian space."

"We're sure now?" Scotty asked. "That that's where they were when they sent the signal?"

Jim nodded at Uhura.

"The location of the _Defiant's_ last signal has been confirmed," Uhura said solemnly. "The triangulation of the distress signal from the nearest Starfleet ship and our location while escorting the Goliath have been confirmed by two space stations. They were barely able to make out the signal, but there's little doubt the _Defiant_ must have been in Tholian space when they sent it."

"I did nae think the Federation was welcomed in that area," Scotty said with concern. "Has that changed?"

"No," Spock replied solemnly. "It has not."

"Has there been any more information about the type of distress?" McCoy asked. "Mechanical? Medical?"

"No new information," Jim said with a frown. "Not from the _Defiant_ , anyway. Starfleet received the standard distress call, as one quick burst. But the secondary carrier frequency was empty. There has been no contact with the ship since then."

"There _should_ have been the standard ship's status readings embedded in the signal," Uhura added. "That's automatic."

"Another mystery," Sulu said gravely.

"For everyone," Jim agreed.

"Who else ees responding?" Chekov asked.

"No one else. Just us," Jim said, leaning back with a look of displeasure.

"Wait, we're going into alien territory on a rescue mission, and they're _not_ sending us backup?" McCoy asked in surprise.

"Our orders," Spock began, "are to locate the _Defiant_ , render what assistance we can and retrieve her from Tholian space. Once there, we are to attempt no contact with the Federation. There will be no other rescue or recovery attempts."

"Which includes us, if this should go badly," Jim said in a clipped voice. "We go in, we have to get ourselves _and_ the _Defiant_ out. We are to keep radio silence as long as we're anywhere near or in Tholian space." Jim nodded to Uhura. "Communications has already been put into silent running."

Uhura nodded back, stone-faced herself.

Those around the table traded astonished and worried glances.

"So far, there's no reason to believe the Tholians know the _Defiant_ is there. We're to keep it that way as long as possible."

_Hell, no wonder Jim's been tense the last few days. If we end up starting a war with the Tholians, trying to rescue the Defiant, it'll be one short battle if we don't have the Federation's backing. Why is this feeling more and more like a set-up?_

"Spock? Catch us up on the Tholian situation," Jim ordered.

Spock looked down at his PADD with what McCoy would have called a slight frown.

"First Contact was achieved by the Vulcan High Command, over a hundred and fifty Standard years ago," Spock began. "The Tholian ship, the _Timonook_ , under command of the Tholian Assembly, was the first contact ship and came across the _Tal'Kir_ in what is now considered inside the Tholian border. The Vulcan's overtures of friendship were originally rebuffed once the translators had samples of their language to work with. The Tholians made clear where their border lines were drawn and that the Vulcan's had overstepped. They ordered the Vulcan ship to leave and threatened war if anyone was ever to enter their space again."

"Friendly bastards," McCoy said with a sigh.

Spock ignored him. "Little contact with them followed through the years. This area of space left unexplored, although many attempts to contact the Tholians _without_ entering their claimed territory was made. Later there was one more Federation contact with the Tholians. This time, with the _Enterprise_ , under Captain Archer and well outside known Tholian space."

Everyone at the table looked at Jim in surprise.

"The _Enterprise_ was following a strange signal to an unknown, and apparently abandoned, drifting artifact," Spock continued. "As the _Enterprise_ proceeded to recover the unknown device, the Tholians arrived and demanded ownership."

"They claimed it as one of theirs?" Scotty asked.

"Not outright," Jim said. "They demanded possession but didn't claim it was theirs to start with. Captain Archer's people concluded that the artifact was from another culture. Before they could argue about it, a Suliban fleet arrived and attacked both the Federation and Tholian ships. During the battle, the artifact disappeared off of the _Enterprise_."

"Disappeared?" Chekov asked.

"It was in the hold of the _Enterprise_ , under intense examination during the Suliban attack," Spock said. "Then it was simply... not there."

"No one had it long enough to discover what it was," Jim said.

"What happened when it disappeared?" McCoy asked.

"When the mysterious signals disappeared with the artifact, both the Suliban and Tholians broke off all hostilities and left the area quickly," Jim replied. "There was no further contact between them and the _Enterprise_ , nor the Federation. That's been the only time the Federation has been aware of the Tholians being outside their own boundaries. As far as we know, they've never let anyone into their space. But we've seen they can and will leave their own area if they choose to."

"Do we have any idea of why the _Defiant_ would have crossed the boundary line?" Sulu asked.

"Could they have been swept in? Drifted in?" Chekov asked.

"Lured in?" Uhura added.

"We have no information from Starfleet on the _Defiant's_ orders," Jim said, eyes flashing angrily. "Admiral Roberts has been working on finding out, but I believe she's been shut out when it comes to the _Defiant's_ assignments."

Scotty humphed. "Well, that's the brass for ya. Keep us in the dark about it all, when it's not _their_ asses on the line."

Everyone at the table looked back at the hologram, faces grim.

"Three weeks is a long time to wait for help," McCoy said softly as the hologram continued to rotate. "There may not be anyone left to rescue."

"We're to make _all_ efforts to reclaim the ship," Jim said. He crossed his arms, his face stony. "If we can't, we're to destroy it."

Once again, everyone looked at each other. It wasn't a rare order. No one wanted their tech to fall into enemy hands. In those cases, the crew was already considered lost or expendable.

"And the crew of the _Enterprise_?" McCoy asked quietly.

Jim's face hardened. "Secondary."

Around him, everyone took a breath, their worst fears confirmed.

 _This isn't a rescue so much as a clean-up,_ McCoy thought. _They weren't where they were supposed to be. Or they weren't supposed to be caught at whatever they were doing. Are we really so needful of information on the Tholian section of space that we've been pushing in on them?_

"What do we do if the Tholians spot us?" Sulu asked. "They’re bound to have some kind of border patrols, regular sweeps… they may have heard the distress call and tracked it down."

"We bend the truth," Jim said with a frown. "We’re there to rescue our ship, that had warp problems, accidentally trespassed, then went into core failure. We do what we need to do to get it back across the Tholian line. Crew it, tow it, or…" Jim looked at them all seriously. "Save the crew and destroy her if we can’t get her back."

Jim tapped his desk-top keyboard, and the hologram disappeared.

"I know," Jim began, "that you've all taken the last nineteen days to do inventories, run drills, and otherwise make sure we're as ready for this rescue and recovery as we'll ever be."

 Jim looked up, his blue eyes meeting everyone else's' around the table, one by one as he spoke. "But make no mistake. I consider this a rescue operation, and it will be worked as such for as long as possible. I do not intend to leave any Starfleet crewman behind, nor endanger them, while recovering the _Defiant_. And to make sure that we're at our best when we reach Tholian space, I want Senior Shift rotation put into effect, as of now. Department heads, you have full authority on who you shift around and who you don't. Any questions?"

 _Not yet._ McCoy shook his head, along with the rest. _But there will be later, I'm sure._

"Good." Jim nodded his head. "I want you all off-duty as soon as possible, so you can kick back and relax. See you in ten hours, rested and ready for action. You're all excused."

The room became crowded and noisy again as those around him rose and gathered their PADDs to leave. McCoy stayed seated and messaged M'Benga to put the Senior Sift rotation into effect, as they'd planned. Emergencies and dangerous situations didn't always happen on Alpha shift when Jim was already on the bridge. Life outside the ship rarely kept the hours they did. Senior shift meant that those who's seniority, talent and/or experience made them the more valuable crewmen during an emergency, as defined by their Department Heads, were to take time off and try to eat and rest before anything big happened. Jim wanted to arrive at the edge of Tholian space with his best and brightest ready to go.

 _Which means both he and I need downtime as well,_ McCoy thought with a sigh. _As if we can just drop everything, forget what's coming up, and take a carefree nap. Jim's so stressed that it's going to be hard for both of us to sleep. But I know a way to wear him out. Now's the time to pull that rabbit out of my hat._

Scotty was on his way out of the Ready Room, and instead of calling out to him McCoy messaged him. Scotty got it almost instantly and looked up from his PADD and over to McCoy, gave him a 'thumbs up' and a wicked grin just before the door closed between them.

McCoy smiled back, even though Scotty couldn't see him. He then turned to watch Jim. Jim was talking to Spock and closing up his files as the last few people filed out. He was trying his best to look confident and upbeat. The Captain who had everything under control and was confident of success. But McCoy could see the tension in him.

_Yup, now’s the time, if ever. Time to get this fly into my web and drain him dry._

McCoy got up and left quietly, heading home to prepare the web.

 

***

 

Jim Kirk flipped through the screens on his PADD as he walked distractedly down the corridor. Thirty minutes after the end of the meeting, he was still getting updates from around the ship. All systems were green and were staying that way, but he couldn't seem to put the PADD down. Each time a station status was updated, the matching icon would flash for his attention.

He had to look at it. Just in case.

 _I hope Bones is home already, and not in the MedBay,_ Jim thought as he made his slow way toward their cabin. _Because I don't seem to be able to take my own advice and leave it be. If he's home, maybe he'll be in the mood to burn off some steam. Otherwise, the next ten hours are going to be very, very long for both of us._

Just before turning to the corridor that led to their cabin, the message Icon flashed. It was from Bones.

WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

Jim stopped suddenly, surprised and confused.

_What's he playing at? A game?_

Jim moved to the side of the corridor, out of the sparse traffic, and typed his reply.

SURE

Bones's reply was quick.

WHERE DOES SANTA KEEP HIS INVENTORY?

 

Jim stared at the message, confused. His mind raced over what he knew about Christmas and Santa. It seemed a simple puzzle, but the answer didn't make any real sense.

 

THE NORTH POLE

Bones's replied arrived in seconds.

ONLY ON EARTH!

GO TO JUNCTURE C-832

FIND THE CLUE

ERASE THE EVIDENCE

 

_What? A treasure hunt?_

Jim sighed. He really wasn't sure he was up for a game. He felt too keyed up to relax, and he needed to be rested up when they got within spitting distance of Tholian Space.

_Well, maybe a game is what I need. He's gone to some trouble over it._

ON MY WAY

Jim knew the juncture, it was just down the hall from the living quarters, past their door. He walked that way, eyes glancing over every well-memorized surface. At the C-832 juncture between two corridors, Jim only took a moment to spot it. At eye level, just inside the left-hand hallway, someone had drawn a red arrow. It wasn't huge but big enough to catch his eye.

He walked up to it and looked at it closely. It was drawn with some kind of dry marker.

 _Okay._ He smiled. _This could get interesting._

Pulling the sleeve of his gold tunic back, he leaned over and rubbed the mark off the wall with his dark under-tunic. Turning, he followed the hallway, eyes scanning the corridor as he went. Two levels in he found another. This time, it was a smaller arrow, lower down. He erased it as well.

The next one was even smaller, and higher up. But not higher than either he or Bones could reach. After some twists and turns, he was led back to the main lift. Beside the door was a tiny arrow, with three small lines underneath. Jim erased it as well and took the lift three levels up.

As he stepped out of the lift, a set of numbers and letters written on the opposite wall caught his eye.

fr0n7 v13wp0r7 6ym

 

It only took him a second to decode it, having done a historical research paper on Leetspeak in his intelligence and coding classes. It was a simple code, where numbers were substituted for letters whenever they had a close enough shape. It looked more involved than it was but could fool those who hadn't learned to see the shapes rather than the numbers themselves. He went to wipe it off as well, ignoring the confused looks of those that passed him on the way about their business.

_Front viewport gym? Okay. That's just around the corner._

Walking slowly, in case he missed anything, Jim moved along the corridor that was now busy with people coming and going from the gym. It was one of Jim's favorite spots. At the forward area of the ship, the wall to ceiling viewport gave a fantastic view of the area of space before them. While at warp, the starburst of light warped by their passage seemed to rain down on them. All of the equipment inside was faced toward the outward wall, and many came here to exercise when it was out of the way, just for the view. This time, the small red arrow pointed to a Jeffries tube at one end. Between the gym and the room next door, it allowed for maintenance on the hidden wiring and tubing in the room and corridor walls. There were two very small arrows eye level on either side of the tube.

_Okay. I guess that makes sense if you're going to hide something. The Jeffries tubes aren't off limits to anyone, but they're rarely used._

_What the hell is up here?_

He tried to remember the schematic for this part of the ship. He'd memorized most of it the last time it was in for repairs. But Scotty was always changing things. When he sent paperwork across his desk for approval, which he almost always got, Jim would try to memorize anything drastic. Even moved 'fresher drains could be important information someday.

After a moment of standing at the bottom of the tube, it came to him. The last change Scotty had requested had come right after they left Deneva months ago. It had to do with freeing up some extra space for access to some conduits that had been left high up on the extended ceiling in the gym. Jim had agreed that there was no point to the ceiling in the gym being so high, so had agreed to have the ceiling lowered to a standard height. That way the conduit area could be accessed from the nearby Jeffries tube. As the amended design came to mind, Jim laughed and swore under his breath as he remembered the designation Scotty had chosen for the new space.

 

3lf-570r463

_How the **hell** did I miss that? _

Jim laughed at himself. Not thinking it was anything but random numbering at the time, he hadn't caught it on Scotty's paperwork.

**_Elf-storage_ ** _. Scotty made himself a room to store all the presents for the December holidays. And if I remember right, it's one with a view, having taken over the top of the gym's viewport wall._

He wiped off the two arrows, then started the climb up the narrow tube. The angle wasn't too steep, and clearly was the depth of the gym beside it, meaning it would come out close to the viewport wall. Once at the top, there was a small platform and a door to the right. On the door, Bones had written...

 

F1N411Y !

 

Jim laughed at the 'Finally!' note and placed his hand on the palm plate. The door slid open, and the first thing he saw was Bones, sitting with his back against some tall storage lockers, halfway down the long room. It was about the width of a corridor, the length of the gym below them. At the far end was another door. To the left, behind the ceiling-to-floor clear-metal viewport, was space itself.

"About time," Bones said with a crooked grin for Jim. He turned back to the view. "This view is giving me the willies. I need some distraction."

Jim took a careful step into the room, looking around. To the left was what looked to be open space. To the right a wall of various sized lockers all the way down to the door at the end. The ceiling wasn't quite regulation height, and was covered in cables and tubes, most connecting here and there to three junction boxes. Recessed lights lit the area with a soft glow. Jim felt like he needed to duck but could actually walk upright.

"When the hell did this happen?" Jim asked with a laugh as he looked around. "I expected it to be like some of the other conduit access areas. But he's got storage lockers and carpet on the floor."

"After blocking this area off," Bones said, "Scotty decided to move the Elf Shelf stuff here into one spot. Didn't want to waste the view, either. Had Spock sign off on it, using leftover bits from other projects, so he didn't need to requisition anything. The lockers are holding everyone's goodies. Behind them is where he rerouted some more cables, with panel access from the Jeffries tube. Didn't want to waste any of the space."

Jim walked up to Bones and sat down next to him, back against the lockers. The view was, as always from this part of the ship, spectacular.

"And the door at the end?"

"A 'fresher," Bones said.

"He put a 'fresher up here?" Jim asked in surprise.

"It's right above the gym's. He just had to run a few extra pipes up and connect them. Spock approved it all. Since it wasn't a major addition, it didn't have to go by your desk."

Jim laughed, taking in the view and leaning against Bones. "I _love_ initiative. This is great! All this view and privacy. Dare I ask how you found out about this place before I did?"

Jim could feel Bones's shrug. His voice was a little embarrassed.

"Well, I sort of talked Scotty into it. We were talking over dinner one night when you were busy, and I admitted that I'd like to... uh... get out more with you. He said he had this space he could gussie up, no problem, and then maybe he wouldn't have to worry about us getting caught in a shuttle, or breaking the wall-cot in my office again."

"You didn't!" Jim said in surprise, looking over at Bones's face. "You really talked about us... and sex... to Scotty?"

"Not in _detail_ ," Bones said with a scowl. Then he flushed a bit. "Just, you know, complained that the ship just seems to get smaller and smaller all the time and that someplace different would be nice.... And he volunteered to make this a place we could come that wouldn't get so much foot traffic... and... well..."

Jim took Bones's left hand and gave it a fond squeeze. "Great idea, Bones, but what if they need to call me? I can't just disappear--"

"Regular computer comm on the wall by the door," Bones said with a nod that direction. "The computer knows you're here, just like any other room. The palm lock will allow anyone in if we're _not_ here and will only announce them if we _are_. And they have to be on duty, so no one using this place for privacy but us. No public access, just maintenance. So, no difference to the computer if you're here, at home, or in the Ready Room."

Jim was floored. The wall of space before him seemed to pull him in. "Really? We could almost _live_ here."

"More than you know," Bones admitted sheepishly. "There's no shower 'cause it's tiny, but Scotty threw in a small sonic cleaner and a tiny recycler on one wall there. There's a replicator hidden behind one of the storage doors down by the entry door. Someone _could_ live here for a while if they had too. The end locker by the 'fresher is ours. I threw in some old sleeping bags that were due to be tossed out for better ones on our next supply stop. No one will miss them. A couple of pillows, in case we want to stay for a while. A bag of _other_ things...."

A flood of warmth and love flowed through Jim, and he squeezed Bones's hand tightly. His voice was low and thick with emotion. "You did this for _me_."

"Well... let's just say I got Scotty interested in the idea and nudged him along a bit," Bones admitted softly. "You _know_ how he is when it's fixing up the _Enterprise_ in some way. And Spock seemed to catch on when I asked him not to say anything to you about it. I mean... I _know_ space is sacred on a Starship, and that it's selfish to keep this all to ourselves, especially when we have two cabins."

Bones pulled Jim's hand closer to his center and covered it with his other hand. "And maybe I can let that second cabin go to make up for it. It's not been mine for a long time. Now we have a home on Deneva we can send things to. Clean it out and forget it. And it's not like you're ever going to get to have sex on that damned command chair of yours. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it.

Jim barked out a laugh, feeling his face turn a bit red. " _Damn_ , but you know me too well! Some things are better left to fantasy. I wouldn't want to take a chance on losing my job over them. But this..."

"So, maybe you can have _space_ , once in a while," Bones added. Then he took a deep breath. "I thought about saving it for later. Christmas or something, but... damned if I'll save the best things for a day that never comes. You just never _know_."

"No," Jim said thickly, emotion making his throat tight. "You don't."

They sat quietly for a moment, leaning against each other, holding hands, with the lockers at their back. The view alone, let alone the privacy, was special all in itself. But it didn't escape his notice that Bones was sitting as far from the viewport as he could get without being in the 'fresher, or out in the Jeffries tube.

"This view, it's still hard for you," Jim said softly. "Still overwhelming."

"Yeah, it is," Bones said with a sigh, still holding onto Jim's hand with both of his. He turned to Jim and gave him an amused smile, his eyes soft as they scanned Jim's face. "I can't explain how it's frightening, and just... too much. But maybe if you keep distracting me, and give me something to hold on to, I won't fall off the edge of the universe."

Jim smiled, then used the hand Bones had captured to pull him close. They both moved just enough that when they kissed, they matched perfectly.

Bones's lips were warm and inviting, and his presence so close to Jim made him relax and forget the outside world. He tasted like coffee and smelled warm and musky, like a warm summer's evening. They deepened the kiss, tongues exploring those places they already knew so well. It didn't take them long before they were pulling clothes off of each other as they rolled, or fell, the short distance to the carpeted floor. They finished undressing each other. When Jim found himself half rolled on top of Bones, their bare chests together, hearts beating fast, Jim finished the kiss with a nibble at Bones's lower lip and a soft peck on his nose. Then he pulled away.

Bones was looking up at him, disappointment at the ending of the kiss in his desire-blown eyes. His black hair, with only a few bits of grey at the temples, was standing out spiky, making him look wild. Those expressive eyebrows were scolding, questioning the reason Jim had stopped. And across Bones's face and high cheekbones, he was slightly flushed, the pattern reminding Jim of freckles and sunburn. Like Bones on a hot and windswept afternoon on Risa. 

Jim's left hand, the one not holding him up, was still busy rubbing Bones's crotch and thigh, enjoying the heat of his growing erection. Bones's left hand was around Jim's back, his fingers trying to reach as much of Jim's ass as he could.

"Be bad if we had to show up to work with rug burns," Jim said with a chuckle at Bones's bemused expression. "Said we had _stuff_ , and 'other things'?"

"Oh, yeah. Forgot," Bones said sheepishly. He twisted to point in the direction of the tiny 'fresher. "The last locker."

Jim got up and walked to it, then placed his palm on the plate. When the locker opened, it was just big enough for the two old-fashioned rolled up sleeping bags, two pillows, and travel bag all stacked on top of each other. He dragged them all out and closed the locker, then started to unseal the first sleeping bag, opening it up and spreading it out parallel to the viewport wall. He got down on his knees to smooth it out and throw the pillows on top. He turned and waved Bones over.

Bones was tall, wide shouldered and narrow of hip. He was lean, but now that he'd been practicing more self-defense, his muscles were more well-defined. His chest hair was dark on the pale skin, more an even smattering than thick. The dark line of hair from his navel drew the eye down to his genitals. Bones was well endowed, his cock almost fully erect, his balls heavy and lightly dusted with hair that Bones always kept neatly trimmed. Neither were porn-star big, and that was fine with Jim. Bones was a bit longer, Jim was a bit thicker they were more of an even size than not. Just seeing him walk toward Jim made Jim's heart race and his blood burn.

"Come here," Jim said gruffly, staying on his knees as Bones came near. He leered at Bones's cock, and look up to give Bones a huge smile as he drew closer. "I _gotta_ have that."

Smiling wickedly, Bones walked up close, his cock bobbing in Jim's face. "You want that? It's yours. Always."

Taking Bones's shaft in one hand, Jim brought the head of the cock to his mouth. He licked the sensitive underside, reveling in the way Bones tensed, moaned and reached out to card his fingers through Jim's hair.

"Sexiest mouth in creation, Darlin'. Sweet, hot man," Bones whispered thickly, throwing his head back as Jim took a good bit of Bones's cock into his mouth. Looking up through his lashes, Jim watched as Bones's breathing quickened as he continued to moan in time with the movement of Jim's tongue over and around the sensitive head. He worked Bones's cock for a while, feeling it grow even harder as Bones's breathing grew deep and raspy.

Bones's fingers twisted in Jim's hair, never too tight, but not letting him go either. Bones's body was tense, his toes trying to curl into the carpet. His head thrown back, showing off the curve of his neck as his hips spasmed with thrusts he was holding back. Jim, hand down in his pants, worked his own erection with one hand as the other held Bones firmly. On one hard, insistent sweep of Jim's tongue over his frenulum, Bones gasped and pulled on Jim's hair, signaling him to stop.

Bones went down to his knees once Jim had released him. He kissed Jim, hard. Bones's hands were hot on his back, chest, and shoulders. Jim's grip on Bones's hips tightened to hold him close.

"Want you inside me," Bones whispered. "Can't give you a ride on the command chair, but can give you the stars."

Bones pulled away and reached for the pillows. He snagged them both and tossed one next to the clear wall and the other close by. Then, with Jim watching breathlessly, Bones lay across the sleeping bag and placed the nearest pillow under his hips while placing his head on the other. Bones had put his head against the clear wall, looking back at Jim. Cutting himself off from the view, while giving all of it to Jim.

 _He **wants** me to see them. While I... while **we** love each other, _Jim thought with surprise.

"Stuff in the bag," Bones said quietly. Then, louder, "Computer! Lights off."

The sudden darkness was almost startling. The short and narrow room had disappeared, and all was left was the blackness around them, and the streaming light from distant stars that rained down on them. He could barely make out Bones in front of him, and the bag beside him. He must have zoned out for a moment at the sight because Bones chuckled.

"Hey, Kid? Don't leave me alone here."

"Never," Jim whispered. He reached for the bag, barely visible in the dark, and it took only a moment for his searching hands to find the lube. Tossing some small hand towels close by, he prepared Bones. He was careful, concentrating on the lube, his fingers, and Bones's reactions. He ignored his own erection, almost painful now, as he fondled Bones. He could feel it as Bones tensed up at a firm stroke up his shaft, then relaxed as Jim's fingers massaged him internally.

"Now, Jim. Now," Bones said thickly, pulling his legs back further to give Jim room to maneuver.

In the light of the streaming stars, Jim positioned himself and pushed in slowly. Eyes closed, he took a shaking breath as the heat of his love surrounded him, at once exciting and calming his own heated flesh. Bones's hums and moans urged him on, and soon Jim was fully seated, leaning over Bones, kissing him. The air between them hot and heavy with both of their scents, Bones's hands at his back and shoulder moved up to his face, breaking their kiss.

 _"Take_ the stars," Bones hissed as he pushed Jim up and pulled his knees further up. "Take them all, as long as I'm there _with_ you. Fuck me while you watch them."

Jim looked up, now given permission to do so, and watched the streaks of light as he started thrusting. Encouraged by Bones's moans and grunts of pleasure, Jim let himself go and _fucked_ his husband. First easy, and slow, then fast and hard as their bodies slapped together and they both gave into the sensations.

He didn't know how long it lasted, and he wasn't sure he actually thought at all, with Bones around him, holding him, as his eyes became glued to the show outside the ship. It was glorious, wonderful, scary, and humbling at the same time it was primal. The rush to completion necessary and as vital as breathing. And all the while his grip on Bones hardened to bruising strength as Jim buried himself in Bones over and over as the pressure built.

He came close to the edge, over and over, and finally, with one hard push to bury himself as deeply inside Bones as he could get, Jim came. He gasped with it, his body struggling to empty itself into his lover. His husband. The rolling wave of it took him over and over, sapping all thought and strength until he found himself lying panting on Bones's chest. His head over Bones's heart.

Between them, where the angles kept them apart, Jim could feel the hard poke of Bones's erection. Pulling out carefully, Jim rolled them to the side and moved down until he could take Bones's erection into his mouth once again. Bones gasped, then started talking, using the deep Georgian accent that made Jim need to taste him on his tongue.

" _My_ man," Bones crooned as he lay on his side, one arm curled under his head, the other hand reaching for Jim's hair. Jim could tell how far gone Bones was. He probably didn't even realize he was talking. "Brilliant. _Sexiest_ damn thing there ever was. Need you. Mine. Mine. Can't believe you're mine. _Need_ you so damned bad..."

Bones's breath hitched as Jim's tongue swirled around the head of his cock, and he made a thrusting motion. Jim encouraged him, and in a moment, lying on their sides, Bones was fucking Jim's mouth. With a deep groan, Bones came. Jim could feel the pulse of the ejaculations in the shaft on his tongue. Jim had held his breath, and relaxed, but had to gently disengage when he could hold it no longer.

"God, _Bones_ ," Jim said roughly as he moved up on the rumpled sleeping bag to join Bones. He smiled at him and scooted close enough to kiss him. "That was... I don't even _know_ how to describe what exactly that was."

"Want to sleep here, and do the walk of shame back to our cabin for a shower later?" Bones asked.

"Hell, _yes_ ," Jim said, noticing that Bones was still not looking at the view. "Want me to take the window side?"

"Hell, _yes_ to that too," Bones said with a huff as he sat up and groped in the dark for the towels Jim had tossed aside. He tossed one to Jim. "Let's get cleaned up first."

In the dark, with it looking like they were both walking on the edge of the universe, they found the small 'fresher, blinked and squinted when the light came on, then got cleaned up. Jim headed back into the darkness first, arranging the pillows and the second sleeping bag in the 'fresher's dim light so Jim would be between Bones and the transparent wall. Laying down between the two sleeping bags, using one as a cover, Jim faced the stars while Bones curled up behind him, spooning.

They lay quietly for a few minutes, all the cold of space in front of him, and all the heat and warmth in the universe behind him, pressing against him everywhere Bones could.

"Not _too_ bad, when you're between me and it," Bones said quietly into the back of Jim's head. His arm tightened around Jim's ribs. "I'm not sure the black and I are on speaking terms, though. What are _you_ thinking, when you look out there?"

Jim chuckled. "I'm not sure I'm _thinking_. Not really. Sometimes... it's nice _not_ to think. Not to think or dream. To just... _be_. I've never been able to meditate. Maybe this is the closest I can get."

"Your mind runs too fast to slow down," Bones murmured, a smile in his voice. "Out there it doesn't have to run. It can just float."

"Maybe," Jim admitted. "But... it's not a _choice_ , you know. Between you and it. It'll _always_ be you. Always the ship. Always my crew and my family. If I go out... I intend to come back."

"I know," Bones admitted, shifting to kiss the top of Jim's shoulder. "I wouldn't have offered you the stars if I thought it'd be a contest. Just... a place you can go and rest when you need to. I just want to be there, with you, to be able to pull you back if it calls for you too insistently. The black is a harsh mistress. I'll fight the bitch with my bare hands if she makes a move on you."

"And you'd win," Jim said with a grin, his hand clasping the one Bones had draped over his waist.

Sometime later, in the quiet, Jim knew Bones had drifted off behind him. Jim just watched the stars and let his mind wander. He didn't keep track or remember the thoughts later. He was just content to lie there with the wall between him and the universe, Bones at his back and the _Enterprise_ under him.

Before he drifted off, he touched the wall to the outside and wasn't disappointed anymore that he couldn't feel the chill of space against the clear metal.

It was good where he was, in the warmth.

Space could have the cold.

 

***

 

McCoy stood in his usual spot by Jim's chair, arms crossed and eyes on the viewscreen. The bridge was quiet and tense around them, filled with the best crewmen on the ship. Now, sitting on the line between open space and the Tholian border, everyone was on their toes, ready for anything.

_Jim's going to have to have us cross into Tholian space soon. We aren't here to sit on the sidelines and wait to see if the Defiant makes a move, or sends a signal. If they're floating dead, to keep the Tholians from knowing they're there, then anything we do could be like a trumpet call to come and get us. Three weeks is a long damn time to wait for help. If anyone's left to wait._

"Any response to our tight beam at their last broadcast location?" Jim asked Uhura.

McCoy knew that a tight beam wouldn't travel very far, or call attention to itself. And if the _Defiant_ had moved, trying to limp home, it could miss it.

Uhura shook her head. "No, Sir. No indication that anyone received it."

Jim sighed, leaning forward, hand worrying at his lower lip. "Spock?"

Spock, at the Science station, shook his head. "Nothing, Captain. We are too far away from the _Defiant's_ last known location to get any readings. If it had tried to make its way to the border, this would be the closest path for a crippled ship."

" _If_ they could move," Scotty added with a frown. "Until we know what they were doin' in Tholian space, and what went wrong, there's no tellin' where they could have gotten to. Could it be the Tholians have them?"

"As of our last contact with Starfleet, no contact had been made with the Tholians," Jim said grimly. "So we don't know. The _Enterprise_ has been ordered not to initiate any contact of our own. We don't know if they even take prisoners."

"Doesn't sound like we have much choice then," Sulu said with a frown.

"Not anymore," Jim agreed. Chair swiveling, he looked around the bridge the way he always did before taking a big step. "Sulu, chart us a direct course to the last known location of the _Defiant_. Make it as straight a run as you can, but don't crowd her. I want to see if she's being guarded by the Tholians before we get too close. Find a good moon or asteroid we can hide behind if there's anything close enough to use. Spock? Have your sensors ready to go, and the drones ready. Nothing that has to broadcast very far. Uhura? Keep your ears open, but don't send out anything until ordered. I don't want us giving our position away. Scotty? Best speed. As silent as we can be. Bones? Make sure your staff is ready."

All replied to their orders and turned to their stations with the exception of McCoy. He squatted down by Jim's side, so they could talk quietly. He knew the last-minute mail packet from Starfleet had Admiral Robert's angry and frustrated admission that she had no new information on the _Defiant_ for Jim. She'd been totally and thoroughly shut out by upper brass. The _Enterprise_ was to go in, as ordered, blind.

"We're as ready as we can be, Jim," McCoy said quietly. "But you know how it goes."

"It's always the unknown that burns our ass," Jim said with sympathetic smile. "Sometimes, I think that's our motto."

"I have a really bad feeling we're being set up for something," McCoy muttered. "When we can't even find out what the _Defiant_ was doing there--"

"We'll just have to do what we always do," Jim said, "give it our best shot. No matter who's got our back. And who doesn't."

The ship crossed the Tholian border, and after half an hour McCoy felt as if all the collective breaths the crew had been holding let loose at once. Not that anyone was less alert, but at least no one jump out at them and accused them of trespassing or invasion. McCoy spent the time standing by Jim's chair, going back to the Ready Room to needlessly check up with M'Benga, and trying to stay out of everyone's way. All he knew was that if he'd had his own chair on the bridge, he wouldn't be able to sit still like Jim did.

Finally, almost two hours later and well into Tholian space, Spock made the announcement they'd all been waiting for.

"We have sensor contact with the _Defiant_ ," Spock said loudly, eyes on his hooded screen. "It is at its last reported location."

"Still no sign of the Tholians?" Jim asked tensely.

"Not that I have detected," Spock answered.

"Sulu any place we can take cover?" Jim asked. "Uhura, stand by."

"No, Sir," Sulu said, shaking his head. "This area is almost as empty as the space we left behind."

"Then take us as close as you can in warp, and come up alongside her at slow speed," Jim ordered. "Uhura, as soon as we come out of warp try to hail them. Keep it low powered and on a tight beam."

McCoy, and everyone else who could, watched the viewscreen as the _Defiant_ came into view. Jim stood, eyes on the ship, hands on hips. Everyone was quiet as they watched their data screens and the _Defiant_ grew bigger as they approached. She _was_ the same class of ship as the _Enterprise_ , but a few years older.

"Uhura?"

"Nothing, Sir," she said grimly.

"Keep trying. The ship looks intact," Jim muttered. "Chekov? Can you detect any damage?"

"Nothing visual, Sir," Chekov said with a shake of his head. "She seems intact. Her shields are up, at full power. Our scanners are blocked."

_We can't even scan to see if the crew is still alive if their shields are up._

"Her engines seem to be operating normally," Scotty added, frowning as he looked over Chekov's shoulder. "But they're running at a low level."

"She _seems_ to be free floating, Sir," Sulu announced with confusion. "But, she's at the exact coordinates indicated by the signal sent weeks ago. She's should have drifted a bit, even if it's only meters."

"That is strange," Jim agreed, frowning. "Any ideas, Spock?"

"Sulu is correct. The ship has not put out the type of energy that would suggest it is trying to stay in this specific location. Yet there should have been significant drifting." McCoy thought he saw Spock frown into his monitor's visor. "There is some distortion of an unknown type, in the surrounding area of space itself. There is no known phenomenon to account for such results."

"Best guess?" Jim asked. "Could it be Tholian?"

McCoy thought Spock looked a little uncomfortable with the word 'guess'. "The computer's assessment of the readings is that this area of space is... weak. We may have found a spatial rift."

"A spacial rift?" McCoy asked.

"Universes, dimensions, all existence has its weak points, Bones," Jim said with a frown. His eyes were on the _Defiant_ as it floated before them. "A rift is a weak spot between two universes or dimensions, where one may bleed over into the other."

"Is that what's keeping them here?" McCoy asked. "They fell into some huge... pothole?"

"We'll see," Jim said. He looked toward Uhura.

"Still no response, Sir," she told him. McCoy could see the frustration behind her professional demeanor.

"Sulu, bring us close enough for transporters," Jim ordered as he stood.

"You can't transport through their shields," McCoy reminded Jim.

"No, we can't. Spock? Ready Room. Scotty, keep an eye on her," Jim said, turning to the Ready Room. "Bones, You come too."

McCoy followed Jim and Spock to the Ready Room.

"You intend to use the Prefix Codes, Captain?" Spock asked once the door slid shut behind them.

"I know I'm supposed to remember what those are..." McCoy said with a sheepish shrug.

Jim headed to the head chair and punched up his computer. "You'd only have heard about them in the higher-level Command Tract classes, Bones. Spock?"

"Each ship has a combination code, Doctor," Spock began, "that can give one Federation ship remote access to another's control systems. This includes weapons and defense systems."

"What?" McCoy asked in surprise and disbelief. "You mean, _anyone_ could dial in and take command of our ship as well?"

"It's _defensive_ , Bones," Jim said distractedly as he typed on the embedded keyboard. "We can stop or seize up their weapons or defense systems, to stop foreign invaders from taking control of another Federation ship. We can lower her shields, and keep her from firing on us, but we can't pilot her from here."

"And it's just a set of numbers?" McCoy asked.

"A number along with a identifying data burst from the _Enterprise_ will give us limited access," Spock said patiently. "The prefix is constantly changing, based on ship, Captain, First Officer, and stardate that is configured by--"

"It's _secure_ ," Jim interrupted. "Spock, we're ready."

McCoy watched as Spock nodded and went to enter something into Jim's computer.

 _And it must need two of them, to get it. At least not every ensign on board's gonna have access,_ McCoy thought with relief.

"Bones, I need your people to be ready. I don't know how the _Defiant'_ s crew or captain will react when their shields go down. If they're flying blind, they could think they're being boarded," Jim said, then shrugged. "Which is true. Just not by hostiles."

"We're still on standby," McCoy assured him. "Just say the word."

Jim nodded at both of them. "Let's get her shields down."

Returning to the bridge, it only took a moment for Uhura to send the code and they all watched as their scanners recorded the dropping of the _Defiant_ 's protective shields. Spock was ready at his station when they did, ready to scan the ship the nano-second they could.

Spock's face went stony. "No life signs."

The quiet of the bridge seemed to drop to an unspoken despair at the news.

"No one?" McCoy asked quietly, disappointment tasting bitter in his mouth.

"None," Spock replied. "The atmospheric conditions seem normal. The ships temperature is standard for a largely human crew. But I am reading no life signs, and no heat signatures that speak of moving, living, warm-blooded beings."

Jim sighed, his voice solemn. "Spock, I want you, Scotty, McCoy, and Chekov with me on the landing party. Environmental suits. You cover the Science Division, as it has copies of data from all over the ship. We need the security recordings. Chekov, co-ordinate the drones. We need to get all the information we can in as short a time as possible. Check out as much of the ship as they can get to. Every inch recorded. Let's get down there and see what's happened. Scotty, I want to know if we can still fly her. Towing her will slow us down."

Jim headed for the lift. "Sulu, you have the con. Keep everything we've got checking for Tholians. I do _not_ want to be surprised. They may not have any idea we're here, but I'm not counting on it."

They all acknowledged their orders as McCoy, Chekov, Scotty, and Spock followed Jim to get suited up.

 

 

***

 

Jim took a deep breath of filtered air while standing in the hallway, outside the large hole in the bridge doors of the _Defiant_. He was desperately glad of the environmental suit and the clean air it provided. What he could see of the Bridge through the blast hole was dim. With all the flickering lights of the working systems, he could see hints of more bodies. A drone, handled by one of Chekov's crewmen, hovered in the air behind him, ready to follow his instructions. The scorch marks of phasers, melted metal and plastics, and various bloodied items used as weapons had been strewn here and there down the corridors, along with the bodies. All signs of a running battle. A _long_ , running battle.

 ** _Dead._** _So **many** dead. And not all at once. Some have clearly been decomposing for weeks. And the Bridge! It was under siege from outside. _

_Were they boarded? If so, where are the intruders? What did they want, and what did they do? What the hell happened?_

The transporter room had been empty, but the corridors were not. The first sightings they'd had of the _Defiant's_ crew was of the bodies. Some looking soft and waxy, and some black, bloated and putrefied in the way that Jim knew meant decay came from inside the body. The kind natural for a death inside a mostly sterile Starship. But the ones that seemed newly dead... he'd have to have Bones tell him when they'd died. _How_ they died was obvious for most of them. There had been violent struggles and outright attacks. One young ensign even had a kitchen knife still in her back as she lay in an alcove, her uniform ripped and torn as if she'd been sexually assaulted.

Jim and his men had split up then, with each heading toward their assigned area and Jim to the Bridge. The floating, round baseball-sized drone that followed him was covered in lenses to record every direction possible. He had ordered the monitor of the drone to keep it high, and one step behind him, unless otherwise ordered.

For Jim, the trek to the bridge had turned up about a dozen more bodies. The doors to the bridge had been locked down, from the inside, and phasered open after someone had pulled the side panels open in the corridor in an attempt to get at the lock-down wiring. Someone who knew the ship well and had almost succeeded. But then, why the phaser hit? The disintegration of the doors had made a large, round hole that he could squeeze through.

Jim did so, carefully, phaser ready on stun just in case.

"Computer!" Jim yelled through an open channel on his visor. "Full lights!"

The bridge computer complied.

"Lieutenant Mirza?" Jim looked at the drone and nodded once toward the Bridge. It flew in, and after a minute or so flew back out.

"Nothing alive," Mirza reported grimly over his comm.

With the drone once more behind him and recording his movements, Jim stepped through the hole.

He counted six bodies at first glance, but not all were complete. Some looked as if they'd been phased in the back, and their upper torsos missing. But it was the body in the captain's chair that drew his first attention.

The _Defiant_ 's Captain, Paul Ortega, was still propped up in his chair. His head was missing, neatly cauterized at the neck. A phaser lay on his lap, the red-stained fingers of his right hand still resting near the trigger. Carefully, Jim picked it up and checked it. It was set to kill, tight beam.

_He died in his chair. By his own hand? With his people dead around him and someone trying to get in? Did he kill them? Or, maybe, he was the one to force his way in? Why? What would make a Captain do that? What would make a crew do this?_

The drone hovered above the body. Jim almost felt embarrassed for the deceased Captain, knowing that with the man's whole, sterling career behind him, this is the way most in Starfleet would remember him. Jim gave the drone a minute to get the complete picture, then signaled Mirza to have it start a slow, complete visual sweep of the bridge.

"Spock? Do we have any vids of the Bridge?"

It took a moment for Spock to reply. "I am checking that now, Captain. Quite a bit of the system has been damaged or destroyed."

"Bones?" Jim asked over the suit's comm as he walked around, checking the active screens in case he saw something unusual. "Scotty? Chekov? I need information. There are six bodies on the Bridge, including Captain Ortega. I think he took his own life. I know you're just getting a first look, but I need you to report what you've found so far."

"All dead here..." Jim heard Bones take a deep breath and his voice faltered. He sounded shocked. "This...this is an insane asylum, Jim. All the beds are full, and they're all strapped in. Violent, vicious wounds, some not even touched by the medics. I think... I think some were tortured in the biobeds. I've glanced into the morgue, and it's full. Some have dates on their drawers, dating back all three weeks. Some a week and a half later. The autopsy room is full and... and it looks like some of them were vivisected."

"Alive?" Jim asked, feeling sick.

"A couple of them, definitely."

"Damn," Jim said tightly. "Can you tell who--"

"The _medics!_ " Bones interrupted angrily, disbelief in his voice. "I can tell by the... yeah, the medics did some of it. The Doctors..."

"Captain," Spock said over the comm when Bones faltered, "I can confirm the deletion and destruction of all security videos on the ship. By the Captain's personal orders."

Jim shook his head grimly as he tried to pull up some reports from the Security Station on the Bridge. "And whatever it is he wanted to hide will probably be exactly what we needed to see. See what else you can find. Phaser fire recorded in the corridors? Locked areas? Barricaded areas? Whatever you can find."

After several minutes of testing various stations, he realized that all security reports and vids had been erased on the Bridge as well. They would never get to see what had happened there.

_Was Ortega afraid of being boarded? Did he try for a complete computer wipe? I'll need his personal computer to see if it still holds information about his orders. Both his and those from Starfleet._

Spock spoke again.

"Captain. There are nadion particles and bits of vaporized biological cells in the Science Division room, as well as the corridors. Someone used a phaser to disintegrate people. There are no bodies inside the labs."

"Living people vaporized? Or were they trying to clear the bodies?" Jim asked. "Bones?"

"Could be both," Bones said with a sigh. "There's no way to tell."

"Confirmed," Spock added.

"Spock, any theories so far?"

"None yet, Captain. This will take several minutes."

"This may need to be _fast_ , Spock. I don't know how much time we have before we have to tow the _Defiant_ or sail it out of here. Bones, I want you to make sure that there wasn't some kind of disease that caused this. These suits will slow us down and get in our way if we have to fly her out in a hurry."

"We've got the bodies to worry about too," Bones reminded him. "We just can't keep stepping over them. The biological corruption will be hard to work around, physically and mentally."

"I know, Bones. I've got a plan. Let me know as soon as you can if you find this isn't communicable."

"Will do."

"Scotty?"

There was no answer for a moment as Jim checked out the last few screens on the bridge. All were set to scan local space, and the communications station showed the distress signal recorded from the _Defiant's_ Ready Room and sent from there. Jim was just about to call Scotty again when his excited voice came over the comm.

"Captain!" Scotty exclaimed. "There are some bodies here, but there is also some strange device that I have never seen before. It's connected to the main reactor coupling, which means it's got to be pulling a lot of power."

"A device?" Jim asked, signaling the drone to follow him into Ortega's Ready Room. He stopped at the sight of a large drawing of an eye on the wall behind the Captain's desk. It was drawn in something red that had dripped down to the floor. He ignored it and headed for Ortega's computer, feeling his skin crawl as he turned his back on it. "Can you tell what it does, besides need a lot of power?"

"Not yet," Scotty said. "Give me a few minutes to see how it's wired."

"Keptain?"

"Yes, Chekov?"

"So far, the drones have a body count of two hundred and thirty-two, most of the bodies so far have been found in the Rec Room and MedBay," Chekov said. "But there are many from the corridors. We have not had time to start a sweep of the individual rooms. The Rec Room has been destroyed. I believe that many tried to take refuge in there, blocking the doors where they could. Also, one of the drones has recorded the Shuttle Bay. All of the shuttles are gone. I think you should check the Bridge's Kelvin Pods."

"Spock, you're hearing all this?" Jim asked, walking over to the Security console again.

"Affirmative."

Jim let the drone cover the board again before typing in a request for Bridge Security status. He wasn't surprised at what he saw.

"The pods have all been deployed. Some empty," Jim confirmed. "If the pods and the shuttles were used to abandon ship when the violence broke out, where would they go? There's no orbiting bodies close enough for them to have escaped to. Red Alert had been activated three weeks ago, then turned off after a few days. The shuttles and pods weren't used for several days after that. Could they have gone to another ship? Spock?"

"Unknown, Captain," Spock replied grimly. "My brief inspection of the Science Division computers show massive tampering, which includes erasures of logs, project data, backup systems, and many of the ship's internal scientific libraries. There has also been physical damage, such as broken screens, furniture, and several sets of data storage devices have been destroyed by phaser. As of yet, I have not seen a pattern, other than the need to make the systems unsearchable and to destroy all records of their work."

"Keep searching, everyone," Jim replied. He switched his comm to the _Enterprise_. "Sulu?"

"Here, Sir."

"The shuttles and the Kelvin pods are gone. Do a full sweep of the area for any sign of them."

"Yes, Sir," Sulu acknowledged. "Do we prepare for towing?"

_We need to get out of Tholian Territory. But I can't afford to move this ship with something strange on it. This whole set-up could have been arranged to get us to do just that. Moving the ship could destroy evidence, or data, that we don't know is here._

"Not yet," Jim answered. "I don't want this ship to move until I'm sure that doing so wouldn't be a mistake. In the meantime, suit up all off-duty Engineering and Security teams that you can," Jim said. "Have the Engineering crewmen wait for Scotty's request for a beam down, in case he needs help. Have the Security crewmen bring body bags with them. I'm not sure how many the _Defiant_ has on board, but Chekov and his drone team can give them specific locations of the dead. We need to get the remains out of the way if we're going to have a skeleton crew over here flying this ship home."

"Burial in space?" Sulu asked softly.

"No," Jim said with a sigh. "I'm not leaving anyone behind. I want the _Defiant'_ s Rec Room shut off from the ship's environmental systems and all exits but one sealed off. That room will freeze up pretty quickly once we take the heat away, and we can place the body bags in there for the ride home. Get a couple of Engineers down to do that. Start with the MedBay and ask Doctor McCoy what bodies he wants removed first. I want Engineering, the Bridge and the MedBay emptied first, so we have room to move about. Then check with Mr. Spock to see what area's he'd like cleared. I have no idea how many of the crew have died, were vaporized, or left, so I want a thorough search when we get the time. Every room. No exception. I want them all treated with all the care and respect we have the time for."

_Which might only be minutes if the Tholians show up. But we'll do what we can._

"Understood, Sir."

"Carry on."

Ignoring the trashed room around him, and the wall drawing behind him, Jim sat down at the desk and put in the prefix code that would allow him to pull up the Captain's Log and the Starfleet Packets that had given Ortega his orders. The files that did come up were corrupted. Taking a data-cube from a pocket, he plugged it into the machine and had started the transfer of the contents. He hoped Spock could salvage some of it later. As reports came over his comm from all over the _Defiant_ , Jim spent what time he had going over any of the Captain's files that would open. So much looked damaged or missing, and he was locked out of the ones that were there. He started a diagnostic program, and while that was running started to clean through the mess in the office, trying to see what had been destroyed and what had been ignored. All while the drone recorded the process.

He'd been more relieved than he'd wanted to admit after finding the eye on the wall wasn't blood, but old-fashioned, Priskian ink. The fingerprints that had been left behind by the artist had been Ortega's. Ortega had been an artist of sorts, and Jim thought some of the pieces around him had been his creations

 _It seems so random,_ Jim thought as he squatted and picked up small pieces of smashed ceramic from the floor. He tried to set small knickknacks and Ortega's personal items in one pile and upended furniture in another.

_Some physical books ripped up, some not. All thrown around. He's probably the one that destroyed and damaged the files on his computer. Was he trying to keep it safe from intruders? His crew? Was he trying to leave a message? Warn people off? Or did someone else trash this room?_

"Captain?" Security Officer Chween's voice came over his comm. "We're here to remove the bodies from the Bridge."

"On my way," Jim said. He stood and looked around again. He knew the diagnostic would take more time. He decided to head for the Bridge.

Four security officers, all in environmental suits and with body bags, had just started to fan out around the Bridge. Jim waved two over to Ortega.

"This is the Captain," Jim told them. "Let's get him taken care of."

_I guess to die in the chair isn't the worst way to go. Maybe I'm wrong, and he didn't kill himself. I hope not. I hope he's at rest now. Him and his crew._

It took them a few moments to move the body to the bag. They sealed it up and were ready to go to the next dead crewman when Scotty's voice came over his suit's comm.

"Captain, you need to see this. Mr. Spock should as well."

"On my way. Call Spock in," Jim said. As he entered the lift, Bones's voice came on-line.

"Jim?"

"Here, Bones. What have you found?"

"Nothing from the records indicating that whatever happened was a virus, or communicable," Bones said. "They'd been running tests all along for that type of response, and it was negative on all aspects. But Jim? A lot of the tests they ran were on various wavelengths and neural responses in the humanoid brain. There was a lot of communications between Medical and the Science Division and Engineering. Some of it got pretty hot and accusatory. Something above the CMO's Security Clearance was going on, and I think a lot of the ship was under orders to keep other parts of the ship out of it. The attacks on crew, by other crew, and instances of violent aggression just seemed to grow and spread to the MedStaff. The CMO himself..."

Jim heard Bones pause. "A lot of records have been destroyed. But from what I could find the CMO's log gets more violent and conspiracy based. His last entry about three weeks after the first recorded attack. His thought processes just... unravel. Become unhinged. Angry. Accusatory. Instead of treating the new cases of violence or sedating them, he took to experimenting on them while they were alive. I found him in his office, dead from various stab wounds that look self-inflicted. He's been dead about two weeks. I'm downloading all the data I can find. There's also a lot of entries about the food problem."

" _What_ food problem?" Jim asked as he left the lift and headed toward Engineering. He was relieved to see that there were no bodies in this corridor.

"There _isn't_ any!" Bones exclaimed. "Part of what seemed to have fed their anger and conspiracy theories is that the biomass that is used with the replicators was tainted. They couldn't use it and had to dump it into space. The waste they were processing couldn't be used either. That left the only things they could eat as the edible plants in botany, supplies in the galley and the storage rooms, personal supplies, some test animals in the labs, or even each other. The crew was so bad off that once they realized that there wasn't any way to feed themselves, all hell broke loose. It was every man for himself."

 _If anything could bring a ship down, that could be it,_ Jim admitted to himself.

The very basis for starship travel, beyond whatever propulsion was used, was food, water, and oxygen replenishment. All were handled by various reclamation processes in the environmental systems. As well as all the waste products produced from consuming those resources. Of the various types of recyclers used, the food synthesizers were one of the reasons the ships could make such long journeys.

No ship, no matter how big, could realistically carry enough food for over a thousand people that would last what could be a year's long journey without resorting to drastically condensed foodstuffs in storage. The biomass the ship carried was the basis for all the food produced in the replicators, and where all the bio-waste on the ship was disassembled to its basic molecules and stored in a closed system until the molecules were reassembled into food items, with the addition of needed minerals and vitamins a working body didn't let go of so easily.

_If the biomass can't be used to synthesize food, there wouldn't be enough produced in the Botany labs to keep everyone alive. The Defiant would have had to find a planet with compatible food sources to restock the biomass. Hard to do when they weren't where they were supposed to be._

_Another part of the puzzle._

"I'll pull Chekov off to look into the biomass situation," Jim said. "How was it tainted? What was wrong with it that it couldn't be used? You may need to work with him on that."

"I'll be on call," Bones said wryly. "But I need more people down here, Jim. Or take some samples back to the _Enterprise_."

"Do what you need to do if you think it's safe. What's the decision on the environmental suits? We're going to need to get this ship moving, and we're going to need a skeleton crew on her to get up to any speed to get home. Do we need to be in suits?"

Bones was quiet for a moment.

"My best evaluation of the situation is that this isn't anything communicable. The ship's environmental systems are running bio-filters at full strength, and they've not caught anything out of the ordinary or unusual. While they were sane, the CMO and the lab found nothing along those lines after more than a week of running all the same tests I'd have run. The air will smell foul, with the decay of so many bodies, but that should filter out more and more as time wears on. I'm ready to take mine off, so I can get closer to some of the equipment that was used and see the tested samples better. This damned visor is getting in the way. But if I'm wrong..."

"I'm joining you," Jim said, unsnapping his suit's visor and clipped it to his belt as he walked to a wall comm. He pulled the hood off of his head. Taking a breath full of ship's air, he scrunched up his face at the faintly sick, rotten spell of it. But it wasn't bad enough he couldn't work in it. The hum of the _Defiant's_ engines seemed deceptively loud with no crew around to create ambient background noise of a working ship.

He punched in the ship-wide channel. "This is the Captain. So far, Doctor McCoy can find no evidence that there is any contagion aboard. I'm leaving it to your personal discretion over the use of environmental suits. For those who are tending to the dead, it would be best to leave them on. Further communications should be handled over the _Defiant's_ comms, as many of us may be off-line to the suit's channels."

He switched the comm to private. "Chekov?"

"Here, Sir."

"Keep your people on duty scanning the ship, and helping locate the bodies for removal to the Rec Room. But right now I want you personally to focus on the biomass system."

"Biomass?" Chekov asked with surprise. "There ees something wrong with it?"

"It's been removed from the ship. I want to know when, how and why. See what records you can find, and any physical clues anyone left behind."

"Aye, Sir."

As he entered Engineering, he glanced at the time.

_Only four hours since we arrived? It seems like days._

Once inside Engineering it really came to Jim how empty the ship was. There should be hundreds of people in the area, going in and out of all the nooks and grannies, filling the lifts and catwalks over all the working systems. Now there was no one.

"Scotty?" Jim yelled into the cavern of large equipment, listening to the echo of his voice behind the hum of the engines.

"Over here, Captain!" Scotty's voice came from near the coils at the back.

Jim followed his voice and rounded a corner to find Scotty and Spock huddled around a strange looking machine. Their hoods were off.

The strange machine looked out of place. Jim had never seen anything like it. It reminded him of some of the artwork he'd seen on Ardana. Tall, thin and crystal looking, the object was like a glass vase that sprang out of the center of a console. It was over a meter tall, and various colors of green. It came to a rounded top, like half of a green bubble, and on top of that was some sort of cap with a cable attached. Inside, a light green mist seemed to slowly flow clockwise while the outer glass-like form seemed to pulse slightly counter-clockwise in a wavelength that he almost couldn't see.

"Captain," Scotty said, walking up to Jim. "Whatever this thing is supposed to be; it's been installed by Starfleet. But I've never seen its like."

"You're sure?" Jim asked, watching as Scotty nodded vigorously.

"Aye, Sir. That I am."

Jim walked toward the strange piece of equipment. "Starfleet installed it?"

"Had'ta have been," Scotty said, walking up to the machine with a frown. "The way it's linked into the main coupler between the matter and anti-matter nodules... that takes gutting out the whole conduit line, and she'd have been off-line for several weeks. And while the way it's been installed is by pure Starfleet specs, it's..." Scotty frowned and shook his head. "Captain, I can usually tell who's been at a ship's innards by the way they work. What kind of equipment they used, and the way pieces have been joined together. But this... this isn't work I'm familiar with. Whoever did major surgery on this girl wasn't a set of mechanics or engineers whose work I've seen before."

"Ours, but not ours," Jim said, eyes studying the glowing green column. "What else is it connected to?"

As Scotty verbally laid out the whole connection system of the equipment, Jim visualized the connections in his head. The use of power, and the way the item was fitted into its space. Room had been made for it. As soon as Scotty finished, Jim looked to Spock.

"Theories?"

"I am reluctant to express any at this time," Spock said with his version of a frown. "I need more information."

"On the Bridge," Jim said with certainty as he turned back. "Come with me, Spock. Scotty? Get every bit of it documented, and a copy sent to the _Defiant's_ Bridge as well as our own. We need to get moving, and I don't want to set this thing off if it's dangerous."

"Aye, Sir," Scotty said. "I'll beam more of my men over to help with the details."

Jim turned to Spock. "If it's supposed to be here, then someone has control over it. Dig into the Bridge's systems and find out who had the remote control."

"Affirmative."

When Jim got back to the Bridge with Spock, Jim was relieved to see all the bodies had been removed. He and Spock took separate stations and started looking for new displays or console buttons. They'd been looking for a few minutes when Spock spoke up.

"Here, Captain."

Jim came up behind him. It was the Tactical Station and would have been Chekov's station on the _Enterprise_.

"This display was found under the main board, under the _experimental_ icon," Spock said.

The display had a vertical slider on the far left, showing various ranges of power, and an outline of the device on the far right. The outline was drawn in green but was blank inside. In the middle were various channels that were recording local light wavelengths and various readouts from the space outside the ship. At the lower corner, was an icon for the placement of the Captain's thumbprint. That wasn't something Jim had seen often.

"So, no name for the object," Jim said. "The Tactical Officer could pull it up, but the Captain had to implement it. I assume it's off?"

"I believe so," Spock replied.

"Probably in part of the Captain's log that Ortega destroyed." Jim frowned. "I've got a copy of what was left, and a diagnostic running on his computer. We need to--"

Suddenly, several readouts started moving. All from scanners of local space.

"Something is changing in our area," Spock said quickly, leaving the screen showing the experiment to pull up others.

The Bridge was suddenly hailed from the _Enterprise_. Jim strode over to the command chair and open a channel.

"Sulu?"

"We have some strange readings from the surrounding area," Sulu said.

"This area of space _is_ thinning, Captain," Spock said in agreement.

"Start beaming everyone off the _Defiant_. Leave Spock and I for last," Jim said to Sulu. "Get ready to tow her as soon as we're off. Best course back out of Tholian space."

"Jim?" Bones's voice came through next.

"Here."

"My hand just passed through a body!" Bones said tightly.

Fear ran through Jim's body, prodding him to make everyone move faster.

"Bones, grab the CMO's log, whatever else you've got ready and be prepared for transport," Jim ordered. He hit the open ship comm. "All crew prepare for transport. Be careful of what you interact with, as the ship is starting to phase out. We're evacuating. Now."

Jim ran to the ready room, Spock following, and checked the computer. It had finished it's diagnostic, but was still downloading to the data-cube.

 _C'mon! C'mon!_ Jim begged silently. If this was their only chance to get information, he wanted to get as much as he could. A few minutes ticked by, and just as he reached for the data-cube, not daring to wait a second longer, he suddenly felt faint and unbalanced. He must have wobbled, because Spock's hand was on his shoulder, holding him in place. He grabbed the data-cube and pulled it free.

A moment later, he felt the familiar surge of energy from the _Enterprise_ 's transporters.

As soon as they were solid again, Jim went to the transporter's wall comm.

"Kirk to the Bridge. We're aboard. Start the tow of the _Defiant_. Use our best course of retreat."

"Aye, Sir."

"There still may be danger in moving the ship," Spock said, looking concerned.

"We need to leave," Jim said with a shake of his head. "Once we get out of Tholian space, we can contact Starfleet. They may not want us on board anymore. Not if they know what is on it and don't want us to know. I'd rather fly her out under her own power, since towing as ship her size is going to slow us down. But we need to get her out of this part of space, and out of discovery range."

He started toward the bridge; he could feel the change in the ship's energy. Jim could feel it as a very small, almost undetectable vibration under his feet. Then it stopped and started again almost immediately. Jim stopped by a wall comm.

"Sulu? What's going on?

"Our tractor beam lost contact," Sulu said, sounding frustrated. "We're trying again. Chekov just arrived on the bridge. I'm putting him on it now."

"Be there soon," Jim said and signaled Spock to follow him at a trot. Crewmen in the corridor moved out of their way as they hurried to the lift. On the ride up, Jim could faintly feel the _Enterprise_ pull up more power. And it started straining. The lights flickered, but the lift didn't stall."

"Report!" Jim said as he and Spock ran onto the Bridge, ignoring the announcement of his arrival. A moment later, Bones and Scotty followed them on the next lift.

"The transporter has a lock," Chekov said with frustration. "But we cannot move her!"

"What?" Jim looked at Spock, who was starting to work his Science board. "Spock?"

"Chekov is correct. We have a lock, which reads as stable, but the _Defiant_ is _not_ moving." Spock looked at Jim. "It may be for the same reason the _Defiant_ has not drifted."

"Reduce the pull of the tractor beams and back us up," Jim ordered Chekov, "but don't release the towing lock. Don't let her go."

"Aye, Sir."

Glancing at Scotty, Jim saw he was watching the screen with concern.

Jim could feel the _Enterprise_ settle as it ceased to struggle with the unmovable object.

"The _Defiant_ is phasing out of our universe," Spock announced.

Taking up most of the viewscreen, the _Defiant_ seemed to fade. Distant stars showing through her for a fraction of a second. Then she flickered back to solid.

"Try it again, Chekov."

The second effort to move the _Defiant_ was no more successful than the first.

Spock shook his head. "We cannot tow while it's in this space. Our tractor beam may be registering a solid lock, but the weak space around us is interfering with its use."

"Can we adjust the tractor beam for this space, Scotty?"

"I'll have to study the science a bit more," Scotty said with a frown. "I can't tweak her if I don't know what adjustments I'm looking to make. I'll need some time."

"Do it _quickly_ , Scotty," Jim said. "If it's not an option, I need to know."

Scotty nodded and left the Bridge.

 _Fly her out, or destroy her,_ Jim thought. _Our orders are pretty clear. Starfleet wants her back, even if we lose the Enterprise. There's not much leeway in that. And yet, we put a crew on her, to fly her out, and they could disappear forever._

"Sulu, start setting up a list for a skeleton crew to fly the _Defiant_. Uhura, get those individuals informed to be prepared. Chekov, prepare our own rations to go over as well as soon as its solid again. I want basic rations and our own water on that ship for three months, just to be safe. Any camping or survival equipment we can use goes too." Jim frowned. "I don't know how much of the ship will be livable, and how many more bodies we'll have to move to the Rec Room. I don't think any of us will feel comfortable for any period of time camping out in the dead crew's living quarters."

"The Galley ees a mess, but there were no bodies there," Chekov volunteered.

"Good. We'll all bunk there. Beam the Galley's contents to the _Defiant's_ shuttle bay and all our supplies to the Galley. Get everything ready to beam over the very second we can. Get it coordinated."

"Aye, Sir," Chekov responded.

"Captain," Sulu said. "Do you want Beta shift or --"

"Some of each shift," Jim replied. "I'll give you a list of my choice of Bridge crew that will go with me. You'll be Acting Captain for the _Enterprise_."

"Captain?" Spock looked at Jim with a frown.

Jim glanced at Spock, but his reply was for Bones's suddenly suspicious, and unhappy, glance.

" _I'm_ going to Captain her out if needed," Jim said with conviction. "Sulu will Captain the _Enterprise_. His choice of First Officer. No discussion on that point."

Spock seemed to understand that that meant he would be going with Jim. He nodded.

Bones's eyebrow rose with his unspoken question, and he crossed his arms in his best 'stubborn' look.

"You too, Bones," Jim said. "If I'm going to end up piloting a ghost ship, I need my most experienced on it. Sulu? Keep an eye on the _Defiant_. If you can start towing, do so immediately. Don't wait for orders. Uhura?"

"Sir?"

"Anything at all out there?"

She shook her head with a frown. "We've got everything we have listening, Captain. Nothing so far, from any direction."

"All right, everyone on your toes." Jim turned to leave the bridge. "Spock, Scotty, and McCoy to the Ready Room in ten minutes, after we get out of these suits."

Jim left the Bridge, a countdown clock ticking in the back of his head.

Between the Tholians, this area of space, and the _Defiant'_ s surprise alteration, he could feel they were running out of time, one way or the other.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

   

  
Leonard McCoy felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he watched the Captain's Log from the  _Defiant_. Jim had set it as a holo in the middle of the Ready Room's table, so he, Spock, and Scotty could watch it with him.

"They're  _coming_ for me! I  _know_  it!" Captain Ortega said frantically. In his fifties, Ortega's dark eyes looked wild as they darted around the room. "The mutiny has taken hold of the crew, and they're all after me. I've locked the doors to the bridge and phased the bridge crew. I can't trust them. They're all against me. Even the dead ones."

Suddenly, in a warp speed change of demeanor, Ortega chuckled, his smile humorless. "Even the  _ghosts_. We became ghosts, just like they wanted us to. But that... that thing pulled us into  _hell_. A hell with nothing but ourselves and the monsters in our heads. It broke it. It broke everything. They wanted us to break it, and now there's no one coming."

Ortega stopped then, and looked down in confusion, away from the camera. "When we turned it off, we  _thought_ we could go home. We were fooled. Sending the signal was a mistake. There's no Federation here to help me. I have to stop it. I have to  _stop it all!"_

Those in the Ready Room were quiet as the log entry ended. McCoy, Spock, and Scotty glanced at each other. They'd seen how the situation had played out for the  _Defiant's_ crew.

"Bones," Jim said quietly, breaking the stunned silence. "Can you tell what was wrong with him? What could have brought this on?"

"Jim, I couldn't even begin to guess," McCoy admitted, feeling useless. "Psychology isn't my strong suit. Maybe, if he were here to run tests on. If any of them were..." McCoy sighed and leaned forward, elbows on the table. "They were all certified healthy when they went out. Past that, it could be anything. Whatever it was, it seems to have affected the whole crew. Maybe even the ones who are missing. Maybe especially the ones who are missing."

"And..." Scotty said uncertainly into the silence afterward, "we still don't know what his orders were? What they were doing out here? What the equipment is that they turned on?"

"Most of the data from the last three months is gone," Jim said grimly. "And that includes the most of Ortega’s records."

" _It_ ," Scotty said grimly. "He says  _it_. That would be the new equipment."

"That seems the most logical inference," Spock said. "It may be that the insanity of the crew was triggered by the device itself."

"Or, that and  _this_  area of space," McCoy added. "And the question is, is this area of space weak  _because_  of the  _Defiant_ and its new toy, or is the  _Defiant_  here because they got trapped in this area of space? And the new toy has nothing to do with it?"

"Those are the some of the main questions," Jim said with concern. He leaned back, arms crossed. He studied Ortega's face as the still image hovered over the center of the table. "The crew's violence, the biomass problem, the lack of food... Let me call Chekov in."

Jim did so. When Chekov arrived, he looked concerned and a bit harried.

"Chekov, what did you find out about the biomass and the food problem?"

Chekov looked as disturbed as McCoy had ever seen him.

_Seeing a bunch of dead Starfleet crewmen up close and personal will do that. Always brings home how dangerous our lives are._

"First, the water reclamation system on the  _Defiant_  reads as systems normal," Chekov began. "There ees no problems with the recycling there. The biomass was first found to be unusable by the ship's system about five weeks before the distress call. It seemed to have taken them by surprise when the replicators failed to work. But... they should not have been starving. There should have been enough in storage to keep them going on basic rations for several months."

"Were there still rations left?" Jim asked.

"No." Chekov shook his head. "It was all gone."

"Thank you," Jim said, nodding at Chekov. "You can get back to work."

They were all silent until Chekov left the room.

"Some  _had_  been starving," McCoy said insistently. "Several of the crewmen I examined were severely malnourished. Some were not."

"It may be that the missing crewmen took the bulk of the stored supplies," Spock said.

"Or it may be that the condensed rations were contaminated as well. And pitched off the ship, in case it was spreading," Scotty said.

"Without any to test, we can't tell, and the records aren't going to help us," McCoy said, shaking his head. "I have a feeling that this whole situation is the result of a lot of really bad things going on, all at once."

"A perfect storm," Jim said with a nod of his head. "We're all going to need to keep an open mind on this. We don't want to miss anything else that might have contributed to the situation. Bones, are you able to use  _any_  of the research you found?"

"I won't know for certain until I get a chance to go over it all. I just barely hit the highlights." McCoy sighed and tapped his fingers on the table in frustration. "Of the files that weren't deleted or damaged, most are  _restricted_. Even to me."

"Restricted to you?" Jim asked in surprise. He looked at Spock. "But that would take..."

"That would take an order from the upper echelon of Starfleet Medical, Security, or those among the Federation Council," Spock finished grimly. "In this situation, the Doctor's clearance  _should be_  quite sufficient for those areas under his prevue."

"And yet, I've been shut out before. Once even on that surprise medical inspection last year," McCoy said with a shake of his head. "Whatever the reason, I can't get in. And no one else outside the Medical Division will be able to get to them either. Unless Spock's people can hack into them."

Frowning, Jim sat back in the chair, his eyes on the desktop. "What  _were_  you able to find out, Bones?"

"They were running regular checkups for months," McCoy said. "More than usual. I get the feeling something was going on in the ship, and they wanted to make sure it wasn't affecting the crew. There was growing anxiety, here and there, among the crewmen, about two months before their distress call. The CMO put it down to their assignment, which he made a point of mentioning that he couldn't talk about. He wasn't happy about whatever was going on. The anxiety rose over the next week, and he was having to give out pills for people to sleep. They were off their food. Depression started to kick in. Then violent outbursts."

McCoy shook his head. "He ruled out a virus, and I've run a quick check of a lot of the lab results. There wasn't anything there that would make me think he was wrong. But... Jim, I think that it was something to do with the ship's operation. He and the Chief Engineer were communicating a lot over the results. Bypassing the Captain. But I can't see the conversations, just the heading information. I think the CMO was good and scared."

Jim drummed his fingers on the table, eyes on Ortega's picture. "Something strange going on with engineering, being in restricted space, taking a chance on starting a war... definitely something covert, and risky, on the Federation's part. Any strange readings from the ship, Scotty? Any problems flying her?"

Scotty frowned. "I don't  _know_. The ship is still partially phased out, and we can't scan for anything while it is. Even if we don't turn on that unknown contraption, I'll still be dealing with this space, and whatever damage we find when we try to move her. Without a lot of time to dig into her innards--"

"We can't plan on having that time," Jim said grimly. "Whatever we do, we may have only one shot at it."

"What about destroying the ship?" McCoy asked reluctantly. "If we can't tow her, or fly her out if she's out of phase with our universe, then what? We can't leave her here to be discovered if she ever comes back into phase. And we can't sit here forever. There's no one left to save..."

Jim glanced at Spock. "Mr. Spock and I have discussed that scenario. We can't be sure that the  _Defiant_  wouldn't phase out as this area reacted to the beams. We could be dead on target, but she could be phased out when the beams arrived. Same with Torpedoes. We can't be sure she'd blow. Also, we not sure what the safe range would be for the  _Enterprise_."

"It's the power disruption in this location of space," Scotty said, nodding his head. "Putting out that much energy in this could just make the rift weaker. Create a hole. Suck us right in."

"Suck us in?" McCoy asked in surprise.

"In a matter of speaking," Spock said with a slight tilt of his head. "The  _Enterprise_  could not destroy the  _Defiant_ while at close range, as the power would disrupt this whole area. Theoretically, the rift would weaken, and we would be pulled into either a null area or another universe."

McCoy felt a shiver at Jim's grim expression.

"We'd need to get the  _Enterprise_  clear and set her to self-detonate," Jim said solemnly.

"And... can we do that and get that crew back on the ship and the  _Enterprise_  far enough away before it blows?" McCoy asked scanning Jim's face.

Jim shook his head and glanced at Spock, purposely not looking at McCoy. "Someone would have to stay and do it."

 _And a Captain goes down with his ship,_ McCoy thought. The shiver down his spine turning cold.  _Like his father died. Staying behind to make sure everyone else lived. He's **not** going down like his father._

And yet, a part of him knew with sick certainty that he couldn't stop Jim if that's what he decided needed to be done.

The beep at the comm seemed to startle all of them out of their thoughts. Sulu's voice came through.

"Captain, the  _Defiant_  is in phase with our universe once again. We've commenced beaming over supplies."

"On our way," Jim said, pushing away from the table.

Before McCoy had even left his seat, Uhura's voice came over the comm.

"Bridge to Captain Kirk!" Uhura announced, then without waiting for him to answer. "We have Tholian contact!"

The four of them were on their feet in a second and racing for the bridge.

"Red Alert!" Jim ordered.

"Sir!" Sulu announced as Jim appeared on the Bridge. "Tholian ships approaching on an intercept vector."

"Confirmed as Tholian," Chekov reported from Tactical. "Approximately seventy-five minutes before they enter local space."

"So much for staying under their radar," Jim muttered as he sat in the command chair, McCoy taking a place to his left. "We're out of time. Spock, call all Bridge replacements in for the skeleton crew we're beaming aboard the  _Defiant_. We've got one shot at flying her out; we're taking it."

"Sulu," Jim continued, "we'll need to buy time. We've been caught with our pants down, and this could get ugly. Put the  _Enterprise_  between the Tholians and the  _Defiant._  See if you can keep them distracted while our people get everything set up, or get them to help. You'll have to play it by ear. We  _don't_  want to start a war over this, and we don't know that they do either. So, see if you can negotiate with them for a best possible scenario."

"Aye, Sir," Sulu said. "I understand."

Jim pushed out of his chair and headed for the lift, signaling for McCoy, Chekov, Uhura, and Scotty to follow him. "Follow as soon as you can, Mr. Spock."

"Affirmative," Spock replied.

McCoy joined the others on the lift, hoping he hadn't forgotten to add anything to the list of supplies that would be beaming aboard the  _Defiant_. There hadn't been much, but what he had ordered would be needful if the  _Defiant's_  medical supplies were missing or couldn't be trusted. They hadn't had time to do a thorough inventory of what supplies the crew had left. Or, at least, hadn't destroyed.

_With a skeleton crew of only three hundred or so, I should have enough of everything I can think of._

_But what am I **not** thinking of?_

For him, that was always the most important question.

 

***

 

Jim swiveled in the command chair on the  _Defiant_ 's Bridge, trying not to remember the Captain who had sat on it last. Around him, a skeleton crew including of Chekov, Spock and Uhura was busy around him, getting ready to get the ship up and running. On the Viewscreen was the three Tholian ships just now coming in close enough for visual contact.

"Scotty?" Jim asked into the chair's comm, "The Tholians are here. Can we fire up the thrusters?"

"Not yet, Captain," Scotty said, sounding frustrated. "We've found some problems with the programming that's been sabotaged. Rerouting it now."

"Hurry it up, Scotty," Jim said, turning to Uhura. "Patch us in with the  _Enterprise's_  system. I want to see both sides of this conversation when it happens."

"Yes, Sir."

A split came up on the viewscreen, one side showing the  _Enterprise_  and the other the Tholian ships. The Tholian ships were triangle in shape, but with rounded edges. They seemed small, but so little was known of the Tholians that Jim didn't know what kind of crew they were carrying. As far as Starfleet knew, all Tholian ships had the same size, shape, and weaponry. Most of it they may never have seen in action. Jim waited anxiously, hoping Scotty would contact him with good news before the Tholians got too close.

"The  _Enterprise_  is being hailed," Uhura said, pressing some buttons as she looked up at the Viewscreen.

On the  _Enterprise_ 's side, Sulu sat in the Command chair, looking attentive and calm.

On the other side, as the connection was made, Jim had a live view of a Tholian. The Tholians head and upper torso, all that was visible, seemed to be cut from crystal. The symmetrical planes and angles of its face framed narrow slits that resembled eyes. The dark blue of the background behind it clashed with the red-green coloring that seemed to move along its skin. Jim knew the internal environment of their ships stayed at 207 degrees Celsius, and unheard-of level of heat for any other species they currently knew of.

_Are we seeing an actual image, or is that more a heat register? Do they 'see' in variances of heat waves? Do they see at in our spectrum at all?_

The Tholian did not move as its computerized voice came across the screen.

"I am Commander Loskene," the voice said flatly. On the screen, the Tholian's 'eyes' flickered slightly. "You are trespassing in a territorial annex of the Tholian Assembly. You must leave this area immediately."

Sulu nodded slightly. "I am Captain Sulu, of the  _Enterprise_. We regret the intrusion. The  _Enterprise_  has responded to a distress signal from our sister ship, who has unintentionally drifted into this area. We are currently engaged in rescue operations. Do you wish to assist us?"

 _Good job, Sulu!_ Jim thought anxiously, watching both screens.  _If they really don't want hostilities between us, this will give them an excuse to help us leave as quickly as possible._

"How is your ship disabled?" The Tholian asked, sounding skeptical. "Our sensors reveal no damage to either of your ships."

"The other ship, the  _Defiant_ , has drifted into an inter-spacial rift," Sulu explained. "The damage it suffered has made extracting the ship difficult. We are attempting repairs now so that she can escape the rift under her own power and vacate the area."

There was silence from the Tholian ship for a moment. When Loskene spoke again, they sounded stern.

"You have one hour to remove yourself from our space. No more."

"That may not be enough time," Sulu said. "We do not yet understand--"

"One hour!" Loskene said again. "You do not belong here, and we do not tolerate deceit. If you have not removed yourself in that time, we will consider your encroachment on our territory as an act of trespassing, and confiscate your ships."

The connection with the Tholians broke off.

Jim signaled Uhura to connect him to the  _Enterprise_.

"Sulu?"

"Here, Captain."

" _Good_  job. They  _didn't_  fire on us."

"An hour isn't a lot of time," Sulu said skeptically.

"But it's an hour we didn't have before," Jim said. "Hang on, and we'll see if we can get her moving."

He punched the comm again. "Scotty? We have an  _hour_ to get the  _Defiant_  moving!"

"A bloody...?! Then it's going to be one  _hell_  of an hour," Scotty said with clear frustration. "I've just got bad news. We  _can't_ use the impulse engines or put the warp core online without all power pulled through that unknown addition. It's not the wiring that's the problem, but the programming. Everything I can find in the system to get this ship moving needs that device turned on. And I cannae tell you what it'll do once it's online. Even if no one flips a switch--"

"Gotcha," Jim said. "We'll have to take a chance then. Get us impulse, Scotty. We'll try to keep from turning it on from up here."

"I need Chekov down here," Scotty said. "And Spock's help on the Bridge to bypass some of the damaged areas."

"You got him," Jim said, waving to Chekov to leave for Engineering. Jim sat down in at Chekov's console as he left the bridge. "Spock, see if you can help Scotty get control re-routed."

Spock nodded and left the Science station for Engineering, the crewman there stepping back to let him have access.

_If anyone can get all the bits and pieces of this ship talking to each other again, those three will. Let's just hope it's enough to get us limping home._

He switched the comm to MedBay. "Bones?"

"Here, Jim."

"We're going to try impulse as soon as possible. Hopefully within the next hour. Warn your crew."

"They're warned. Do you want me up--"

"No. Stay at station. Keep working on the problem of the  _Defiant_ 's crew going insane. We may need an answer sooner rather than later."

"Aye, Sir."

The next twenty minutes seemed to crawl for Jim. He watched both the  _Enterprise_  and the Tholians ships on screen and checked and rechecked the Tactical Display in front of him. Just to have something to do. Jim knew that the crew around him were all working frantically to get the  _Defiant_  ready to move. For them, the minutes would be passing in the blink of an eye.

Finally, Chekov sprinted onto the Bridge, breathless. At the same time, Scotty's voice came over the come.

"Impulse ready!"

"Spock?"

"All systems online," Spock replied, heading back to the Science station.

Jim hurried to the command chair as Chekov slid into his chair at Tactical.

"Uhura! Let Sulu know we're on the move," Jim ordered. Then he turned to the Sulu's replacement. "Lieutenant Rhee! Get us impulse and pull us out of here."

"Aye, Sir!"

Jim sat tensely in his chair, listening to the sounds of the impulse engines powering up. At first, he thought the knot in his stomach was only for the situation, but as the monitor on Rhee's display showed her slowly powering the impulse engines up, the feeling grew worse. Like a transporter lock that had gone wrong, or off in some way, Jim started to feel woozy.

He held up his hand and found his eyes hard to focus. His hand looked thin, and the bridge around him seemed to grow thin as well. Not only stars started to show through the walls, but Jim could almost see the  _Enterprise_  in the distance, barely visible without sensors as only her running lights lit up large spots on her.

To the side, something gold and glowing seemed to be drawn on his vision, like a wall of lines of lights suddenly blinking on. The ship started to shimmy around him as light seemed to become liquid and time feel like a pressure.

"Spock!"

"The rift is weakening," Spock announced loudly through the distortion around them. "We are being pulled into a different dimension."

"We're  _not_  moving!" Chekov's said, his voice thin and wavery.

_One chance! This may be our one chance!_

"More power!" Jim ordered, grabbing onto the chair arms as the ship started to vibrate even more.

"Captain!" Spock's voice came to him through the thickness of the air around him, as the ship seemed to become even less solid and real. "We must stop!"

 _This may be the only way we have out!_ Jim wanted to argue. But his gut was telling him that this wasn't working, and wasn't going to work. It was just making things worse. With uncertainty and frustration, he made a choice.

"Power down!" Jim yelled to Rhee. "Scotty, power down!"

As the sounds of the straining ship died down, the Bridge around Jim became more and more solid.

"Captain, the power of the impulse engines has caused this area of the rift to become even thinner," Spock said, shaking his head.

"Captain, the  _Enterprise_  is hailing us!" Uhura said.

"What is that?" Lieutenant Rhee said suddenly as the screen swiveled to a side view.

In front of the  _Enterprise_ , and not far from the  _Defiant_ , was a grid of golden lines in space that hadn't been there before they'd tried impulse. The lines, kilometers high and wide, made one large wall in space. At the corners, one upper and one lower, two of the three Tholian ships were moving in sync, pulling the golden thread behind them. Drawing the bars of a golden cage around the  _Enterprise_  and the  _Defiant_ , the Tholians continued their steady process.

"Open a channel," Jim ordered, his eyes on the wall of energy in front of them.

"Captain!" Sulu exclaimed. "Are you all right? Are you functional?"

"Waiting on a status report. What are the Tholians doing, and how did they... wait," Jim said suddenly, realizing what had happened. "Sulu? How long were we inter-phase?"

"Over two hours," Sulu said, his voice grim. "Once you turned on the thrusters, the  _Defiant_  started inter-phasing again. We could see you, but not contact you. After the first hour was up, the Tholians started building this... net, or cage."

"Show us," Jim ordered.

"It's being transmitted to you now."

"On screen," Spock announced.

On the  _Defiant_ 's screen, Jim saw the  _Enterprise'_ s recording of two of the three Tholian ships seeming to dock their flat ends together. Then when they separated, the thick, golden thread was created.

 _Like two spiders spinning one filament of a web,_ Jim thought in astonishment.

"Spock?"

Spock spoke while his eyes still watched the scene from the hood of the Science Console. "There's no analogy to this structure in Federation technology. They are creating a condensed, and stable, filament of energy made from weaving various strands of energy. I predict that if they are allowed to complete their building of the net around us, we will be unable to leave this area of space."

"How long until they have us fenced in?" Jim asked.

"Seven hours, thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds," Spock said with stony precision.

"Sulu?"

"I heard, Captain."

"Did they make any other threats?" Jim asked. "Give you a new deadline?"

"They've made no contact," Sulu replied. "And they've refused our hails. They just started making this... web."

"The Tholians do not bluff," Spock said. "Since the hour has passed, they consider both of our ships forfeit."

"Well, they're not getting  _either_  of us," Jim said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "Spock, come with me to Engineering. There must be something we can do. Even if it means turning that unknown device on, and seeing why it's such a secret."

 

***

 

While the  _Defiant_  now had only a skeleton crew, just enough to get it moving, Jim had felt a bit of hope just by seeing people in the corridors on the way to Engineering. It didn't feel like such a ghost ship now. On the way, he and Spock had gone over a few things they could try to get the  _Defiant_  mobile.

Once in Engineering, Jim and Spock found Scotty over by the main control panel for the nacelles. His frown didn't speak well for their situation.

"Scotty," Jim said as they came upon him. "We have a new deadline. We need to get out of this area of space before the Tholians finish building this cage around us. Spock thinks he has a plan."

"I hope it includes channeling power through that new device," Scotty said with a scowl as he brought up more engineering specs on the various screens. "Because the idiots who designed this system not only connected the main power to it, but all the software is tied in as well. Can't use the warp engines without it going to through the... thing."

Surprised, Jim glanced at Spock. "Will this interfere with our new plans?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Unknown, Captain. But I do not see that we have much choice. Or much time."

Jim shook his head with frustration. "We're stuck with whatever it is, then. Spock, tell Scotty what our plan is."

"Since any direct power used in this area seems to weaken the rift, which has trapped the  _Defiant_ , our plan is to use the tractor beams to 'anchor' ourselves to the  _Enterprise_. Then, while using a burst of power from the warp engines to propel the  _Defiant_  while retracting the tractors, we should be able to pull ourselves out before the rift completes pulling the  _Defiant_  into it."

"The last time, the  _Enterprise_  tried pulling the  _Defiant_  out," Jim added. "It wasn't strong enough, just like the impulse wasn't strong enough to move us out of the rift before it could get weaker. But if we had the engines to push  _and_  pull at the same time, I think we can rock ourselves loose before the rift can react."

"Like poppin' a cork," Scotty said, nodding his head. He turned back to the screen and smiled. "But I've got an even  _better_  idea. Those filaments the Tholians' are weavin' around us? They're a collection of energy filaments, and if we're locked in this cage, it's gonna be hell tryin' to break out. I suspect they'll be self-generating once the Tholians finish caging us in. But the filaments have mass  _and_  energy. If we can get a lock on some bits of that wall they've finished,  _and_  the  _Enterprise_ , that'll give us two solid objects to pull on while the engines are pushin' us out."

"Will it help?" Jim asked Spock.

"The theory has merit," Spock admitted. "Anchoring ourselves to two stable objects should increase the odds of our escaping this area of space."

"And the odds are?" Jim asked.

"Sixty-five point three, three percent success rate, with the current information I have available."

"And what happens if we fall into the other sixty-four and .... something... percent?" Scotty asked worriedly.

"The  _Defiant_  will be pulled into either another universe or a null void," Spock said. "There is not enough information on either scenario to predict whether it would be survivable or not."

"And without using the tractor beams to anchor us to the web?" Jim asked, wondering if he should.

"Fifty-two point seven," Spock said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'd go with the better odds, then," Scotty said quickly. "But what about the time distortion?"

"It is a concern," Spock said. "But if we can pull out in the first few seconds, then the distortion should be short. If not, then the  _Enterprise_  may be unable to move with the tractor beam on her."

"Then, she'll be caught in the Tholian's web," Scotty said with concern.

"We either do this in the first few minutes, or we fail," Jim said. "If so, then we're abandoning the  _Defiant_ , and destroying her. Then the  _Enterprise_  will still have time to leave the area."

Scotty looked at Jim, his face grim. "Someone'll have to  _stay_ and--"

"I know, Scotty," Jim said, quickly. "So, let's  _not_  have to use that option. How long until you can get the engines online?"

"As long as you're good-to-go with channelin' all the power through the mystery machine, then forty minutes. I just want to check everything out once more. But if we've run outta time, I can punch them online as soon as you can get to the Bridge."

"Those forty minutes could save our lives, use them well." Jim turned back toward the corridor, Spock close behind him. "Spock, you head to the Bridge and make sure everyone there is ready for this second attempt. Update Sulu, let him know we'll be using the  _Enterprise_  as an anchor. I need to check in with Bones."

"Understood," Spock said.

Jim let Spock take the available lift to the bridge and took another to the MedBay. Inside, he saw Bones and four of his staff working on the Biobeds.

"Jim?" Bones said with concern when he saw Jim approach. "What's the new plan?"

"We're going to give it another try, in about thirty minutes," Jim said, taking Bones's arm and pulling him away from the others for more privacy. "How is everyone handling being in the rift?"

"So far, so good," Bones said with a glance at the others in the room. "I  _think_. No reports of anyone going off the rails. That rift stuff is pretty intense, though. But with the skeleton crew, everyone's too damn busy to get too sidetracked. I've been keeping everyone busy sterilizing every damn thing in here. I'm just glad the bodies were taken to the Rec Room before my team beamed down. They know what happened, but haven't really been faced with the deaths yet. I figure it's the same for the rest of the ship."

"We'll have to take the time and search the ship once we're on our way home," Jim said grimly. "That job's not done yet. It's why everyone is bunking down in the Galley. The fewer times we run across a body, the better our moral. I just wanted to check in, and make sure no one is showing the same signs the  _Defiant's_  crew did before they started killing each other."

"I'm keeping an eye open, and an ear to the ground," Bones promised. "Just get us out of this hell hole and headed for home, and we'll all have time to adjust. Give me a few, and I'll join you on the Bridge."

"You sure you shouldn't be on station?"

"If someone on the Bridge starts acting homicidal, that'll  _be_ my station," Bones said grimly. "Everyone here knows what to watch for. We're all carrying sedatives."

"Let's hope we don't need them," Jim said with feeling as he turned to head back to the Bridge.

They all had a second chance to have one last shot at it. Now it really was all or nothing.

 

***

 

McCoy sat buckled in in an empty seat at the Security station, watching the Bridge crew. Everyone seemed to be concentrating on the task in front of them and doing their best to ignore the golden cage the Tholians were still building.

Which was good. But for some reason, McCoy's eye kept coming back to Chekov. The young man was usually hard to shake. He could be serious, his mind running any particular problem down to the ground when he was needed. But for some reason, Chekov's demeanor felt...grimmer than usual.

 _Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there,_ McCoy thought.  _I want to keep busy, and just wish this whole scenario was over with. Maybe I'm looking for trouble where there isn't any._

"Everyone?" Jim said, getting the attention of the Bridge. "Prepare to latch on to the  _Enterprise_ , and the web, on my mark. Sulu?"

"Here, Captain. All systems look good."

"Keep the channel open. If the Tholians react, you'll need to keep them out of this until we break free. Lieutenant Rhee, make sure that if we're able to pull ourselves out of this rift, that we don't run into anything."

Jim nodded toward the viewscreen and the golden web that was still being built around both ships. "It wouldn't do us any good to pull ourselves out of this trap and find ourselves stuck in another."

"We should come out clear of the Tholians  _and_  the energy filaments," Rhee said with certainty.

 _Good crewman. Just wish Sulu were in that position,_ McCoy thought worriedly.

"Sulu, we're heading the  _Defiant_  back  _toward_ home, at full speed, as soon as we get clear. Make all speed out of this area. If the Tholians follow or shoot at us, take defensive measures. Don't shoot back. We'll let the Ambassadors take care of the mess behind us."

"Aye, Sir."

"Chekov, what's the status on the unknown equipment?"

Chekov scowled. "It ees turned on, but ees not doing anything that I can tell."

"Confirmed," Spock said from his console.

"Then let's do this." Kirk hit a comm on his chair. "Everyone, find a seat and belt in. Spock, keep an eye on the space around us. Scotty? Bring the warp engines online. Chekov put a tractor beam on the  _Enterprise_ , then one on the closest part of the web. As soon as you've got a good lock, yell out. Then Rhee hit warp one and get us out of here."

McCoy grabbed at an empty seat and buckled in quickly. He could feel and see the _Defiant_  gearing up to go to warp from a standstill.

"Now!" Chekov yelled.

If they'd even had a split second of jump on the rift, McCoy didn't feel it. Almost immediately a distorted wash of displacement and vertigo hit McCoy. He suddenly felt thin and fragile, and the Bridge and the people around him became dull and faint. He tried to hold on to the edges of the chair as the  _Defiant_  struggled and thrashed as if she'd suddenly come alive and was flailing for a lifeline.

"Warp two, Scotty!" Jim yelled.

"We are making headway!" Spock yelled.

Then the space and the ship around him started to stutter, solid one minute and ghost-like next. Time seemed to slow down. Then ship lurched so hard McCoy would have been thrown across the Bridge if he hadn't been belted in.

"The Tholian lead ship has thrown their own tractor on us!" Chekov yelled angrily. "The--the unknown equipment has come on!"

"Scotty! Cut war--"

Before McCoy could even hear the completion of Jim's next order, existence swirled around McCoy in a tornado of color and sound, and he lost track of where, and even who, he was before he felt nothing at all.

 

***

 

McCoy blinked, trying to make sense of the scene around him. He'd been unconscious, or out of it enough to feel like unconsciousness. His stomach was roiling almost as much as his sense of direction. He gulped in air, feeling suffocated. Focusing on his hands in his lap, as his brain started working again, he realized he was belted into a chair on the Bridge. But he was still confused.

_What... what happened? We were trying to get out of the rift. Did we get out?_

He looked around the Bridge. People were strapped in, most starting to move, a few slumped over in their seats. The viewscreen was off, showing them nothing.

"Report!" Jim yelled, making McCoy wince with the pain behind his eyes at the volume. "Ensign Tolbert, see about getting the viewscreen back on! Spock? Did we succeed?"

McCoy turned to the Science station to contact Davidson in the MedBay, and he could hear everyone around him working their own consoles, checking with the rest of the crew, to figure out what had happened.

"Captain?" Ensign Tolbert from Engineering said, sounding confused. "The viewscreen _is_  on."

McCoy looked at the blank, dark space in front of them in surprise as the report from MedBay can through to him. He could hear various departments reporting to the Bridge in the background.

"The Ensign is correct," Spock said gravely. "We have failed and have been pulled into a null space. Lieutenant Rhee, turn the ship to these coordinates."

McCoy watched as the ship moved, and slowly, in the distance, two objects came into view as the ship turned. The  _Enterprise_  and a single, golden line of the Thalian web.

"Captain!" Uhura said. "We’re being hailed by the  _Enterprise_."

"We pulled them in with us," Jim said angrily, through clenched teeth. "Split screen, Uhura."

"Captain," Sulu said, his face grave as it took up the right side of the viewscreen. "We seem to have followed you in."

"I see," Jim said shortly, his fists clenching and unclenching in anger. "This was  _not_  foreseen as a possibility. Spock?"

"The unknown piece of equipment in the  _Defiant_ ’s engineering was triggered when we increased to warp two," Spock said as he turned from his screen to look at Jim. He almost looked chagrined. "The equipment itself weakens space. We were actually pulling out of the rift  _until_  it came on."

"Not  _my_  fault," Chekov said angrily, under his breath. "I did  _not_ —"

"You’re  _not_  being blamed, Ensign," Jim said shortly. He looked back up to the viewscreen. "Sulu, I want full reports on every system on the  _Enterprise_. Start the Sciences Divisions to monitoring the  _Enterprise_ ’s bio-matter, and crew wellbeing. Report everything to me, here, as soon as you get any answers."

"Will do, Captain," Sulu nodded sharply and signed off.

That left just the  _Enterprise_  and the glowing, golden filament of energy outside. And the blackness. McCoy didn’t ever remember seeing a black so deep and dark that it felt as if was pulling him in. The hair on his neck started to stand on end as he found himself trying to pick out any fragment of light in the distance, and failing.

 _Even the void we just came from wasn’t that dark,_ McCoy thought, feeling shaken. It was almost like finding out that there was a real hell, and it didn’t contain the damned. It contained nothing at all.

"Viewscreen opaque," Jim announced loudly.

 A few seconds later the black went away, looking like a blank wall that could be anywhere on the ship. McCoy could see the anger in Jim’s stance and his face. His voice was steady.

"Everyone. I want  _every_  recording we have on what happened, gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Spock, you and Scotty figure out what happened, and what we can do now to get home. Report as soon as you have any information. McCoy, Ready Room."

McCoy followed Jim into the ready room, conscious of the worried and grim faces of those on the Bridge as they turned to their work.

As the door slid shut behind them, Jim strode angrily back and forth in the center of the  _Defiant_ 's Ready Room. McCoy looked around at the shambles of Ortega's office, and the bloody-looking painting of the eye on the wall. McCoy hadn't seen the damage, and it gave him the chills.

Jim's pacing and anger-flushed face added to the sense of disorder and chaos McCoy felt in the room. Someone, probably Jim, had pushed a lot of the debris to the walls, clearing the space in the middle, where the  _Enterprise_ 's conference table would be. Ortega had a desk and a large couch.

_Different men, different styles of command. A clue as to who Ortega was before all this shit went down._

Still, it was better than what he'd found in the MedBay. He tried not to remember what he'd found there. If he ever slept again, it was all right there, waiting in his nightmares.

"Report from MedBay?" Jim snapped.

"No reports of injuries. Mental or emotional problems, or outbreaks of violence," McCoy said. He watched Jim closely as he paced angrily, his shoulders tense and his jaw clenched. "I've seen a couple on the bridge who seemed overly stressed and angry. But nothing unexpected for the situation."

Jim humphed in frustration as he turned to pace back across the room. "Well, then they can suck it up and deal with it. We don't have the time to indulge them."

"Well  _good_. 'Cause you're one of them."

Jim turned to him angrily.

"You've got a good burn going," McCoy said, raising an accusing eyebrow. "For someone, I know? Or is this personal?"

"I  _fucked it up!_ " Jim exclaimed, his eyes flashing as he threw a glare at McCoy.

"How?" McCoy asked sharply, arms crossed. He could tell Jim didn't want platitudes, support or reassurances. He wanted facts. He wanted options. He wanted a way to fix things.

"I  _should have_   _waited_  until we could have taken that unknown device  _offline_ ," Jim said with frustration, going back to pacing.

"Did you have the time?"

"I should have  _found_  the time!"

"Did  _Scotty_ suggest doing so? Did  _Spock_?" McCoy shook his head. "We were racing the  _clock_  here, Jim. Kept in the dark, fed bullshit, without the slightest hope of getting mushrooms out of the deal. And as good as you are in the sciences, Scotty and Spock are the  _experts_  in their fields. If they didn't suggest it, then it probably wasn't a smart thing to do."

"We  _knew_ that the ship's power was routed through it," Jim said doggedly. " _And_  the software."

"Then what would it have helped to take it apart? The  _Defiant_  probably would have been sitting helpless, with no warp at all, when the Tholians arrived."

Jim stopped pacing, but kept his eyes on the floor and frowned. "I  _should_  have known that there could have been some automatic switch, some trigger that would have turned it on."

"Yeah, like Spock, Scotty, and Chekov did?" McCoy huffed. "Or are you going to drag  _them_  into this blame game as well?"

"Bones," Jim said with frustration. " _They_  couldn't have known--"

"Neither could  _you_ ," McCoy said simply as he walked toward Jim. "We're here to save the  _Defiant_ , and crew. We didn't have a chance in hell of saving the crew, and no information about what the  _Defiant_  was even doing on  _the wrong side_  of an established border.  _Everyone_  has done their best to get the ship the hell back into  _our_  space, and on its way home, with both hands tied behind our backs, our eyes covered, and a clock ticking down to war. Put the fucking  _blame_  where it belongs, on the  _brass_  that scuttled this mission before it even started. I'm still your doctor and my advice? Save your pity party for later, when we all aren't so freaked out and tired."

Jim glared at McCoy, his eyes hard. When McCoy got close to Jim, he didn't try to touch him. Jim wouldn't have welcomed it, not with being so angry with himself. But McCoy did lower his voice, trying to keep his words calm and measured.

"Jim, if nothing else, the Tholians  _aren't here!_  So maybe we have more  _time_  to fix all this. We've also got a head start on knowing what to expect, with what happened to the  _Defiant's_  crew. We have information they  _didn't_. Take those small favors and run with them, like you always do. Glass half  _full_ , remember? Leave empty part of the glass to me." McCoy gave him a small smile. "That's more my thing than yours."

Jim held his eyes for a minute, and McCoy could see that Jim was taking him seriously. Then Jim took a deep breath and nodded.

"You're right. I don't have the  _time_  for blame," Jim said with a sigh. "Rain check on the pity party, then?"

"Nope," McCoy said matter-of-factly. "Food and sleep once I great a break. Pity isn't on my to-do list. Yours  _or_  mine."

As Jim turned back toward Ortega's desk, McCoy eyed the creepy drawing on the wall. It made McCoy feel a little twitchy like Ortega was watching them invade his office without permission.

"He had no outside help, no backup," Jim said softly as he sat down to Ortega's computer. "And toward the end he didn't believe that anyone was coming for them. There must be something... some clue... some way he'd have wanted the Federation to figure out what had happened. There  _has_  to be some way to get inside the files that are left. The restricted ones. The ones Ortega didn't delete or alter."

"Can't Spock hack his way in?"

"Against Starfleet's best encryption and security?" Jim shook his head. "That could take weeks, months _. If_  it's even possible. And there's so many other things we need him and the Science Division working on right now, even if we don't all go crazy and start killing each other. But if we can figure out what that equipment does, then that might save us days, weeks, of study. Because if we need it to get out, and Scotty can't get it back together..."

McCoy shook his head. "But as  _Captain_ , isn't there some way--"

"I'm  _not_  the  _Defiant's_  Captain," Jim said quickly. "The Prefix codes are used by outsiders. Not the crew, not the..."

McCoy watched, holding his breath as he recognized the sudden expression that took over Jim's face. Jim's face relaxed, his focus drifted, then he sat back and sucked in a corner of his lip to start chewing on it.

_He's thought of something. Some way around this security mess._

McCoy stayed silent, not wanting to break Jim's concentration. He felt his heart speed up with sudden hope.

"I  _need_ to be  _the_  Captain," Jim said, excitement in his eyes as he looked up at McCoy with a smile. " _I_  need to be the Captain of the  _Defiant_. If the system is told that the Captain is dead, then the First Officer will step in as Captain. He will have security access to all classified orders."

"But, the First Officer is  _dead_ ," McCoy said with a frown. "We've established that as well."

"The  _Enterprise's_  CMO has," Jim said as he started typing. "But not the  _Defiant's_ CMO _._ "

McCoy felt confused. "But... he's dead too."

"Not for long," Jim said with a smile. He started to type faster, his eyes on the screen. " _You_  are going to be officially transferred to the  _Defiant_ , as its new CMO. You're  _then_  going to certify that Captain Ortega is dead. Then, I, as First Officer, will step into the Captain's spot, and that  _should_  give me access. Or, at least, get me only a few steps away."

"But, you're not--"

"I  _will_  be, once Spock hacks into the crew database," Jim said with a grin. "That's not  _nearly_  as secure as the orders Ortega received. It's a  _machine_ , Bones. We fill in the right forms, in the right way, and it'll move to the next steps on its own. But this will take a bit of time, some backdating, and sending some secure data-packs with our transfer orders from the  _Enterprise_  to the  _Defiant_. You need to get back to the MedBay and get a head start on this mental instability problem and keep an eye on the food supplies, along with the Environmental Division. Send Uhura and Spock in, and we'll get our fake transfer orders sent from the  _Enterprise_  to the  _Defiant_ , and start juggling the needed crew. Stand by to take your official place as the  _Defiant_ 's new CMO, and then certify Captain Ortega as deceased. The official-looking transfer should give you access to the old CMO's secure orders, records, and restricted communications as well."

Jim looked up and gave McCoy a crooked smile. "Carry on, Doctor."

"Yes, Sir!" McCoy returned the smile before he headed back to the Bridge, to pass along Jim's orders.

 _The Kid's back on track!_ McCoy thought happily.  _Now he can do what he does best, and start the process of getting us all home._

_If only I can keep us all alive and sane enough to go with him._

 

***

 

Jim Kirk walked through the dim corridor and palmed open the door to the Galley kitchen itself. He was sore and tired, even after his quick shower in the gym. While it helped, he really needed sleep. But he needed to check in with the other's before he could even think about closing his eyes.

Ten hours since he and Spock had tricked the  _Defiant'_ s computer into opening all its files to the Captain, new First Officer, and CMO, Jim couldn't really remember the last time he'd slept before that. Now, with what he'd seen in those files, part of him wondered if he'd ever be able to sleep again.

 _At least we can still have showers,_ Jim thought with relief.  _The water system is still working, as is recycling it. If we're here long enough for the food to run out now that the Enterprises biomass is starting to degrade, we'll be able to survive on water for a while. If we don't try to kill each other first. Small favors._

Inside the Galley's kitchen, the lighting had been dimmed so that no light would sneak out into the dining area on the other side of the closed food service area, where hundreds of the transferred  _Enterprise_  crew took turns sleeping in one and two-crewman tents, and what cots they could find to fill the dark, quiet space.

The  _Enterprise's_  kitchen was a large room, stuffed with all kinds of real-heat stoves and ovens, and plenty of counters all around. It always reminded Jim of the back of some of the better restaurants he'd seen on Earth. And even though everything was metal and shiny, it always felt like a warm place to Jim. The  _Defiant'_ s kitchen was the same, although this one had seen violence, echoed in the dents and burn marks here and there on the counters, storage doors, and floor.

Jim wasn't sure if any of the dead had been found here. He wasn't sure he wanted to ask.

The crewman he was looking for was the only person in the room. Head of the Food Service Division for the  _Enterprise_ , the older Daliwakan was long past the age most human's would have retired, and hadn't been on the  _Enterprise_  for all that long. With his still-dark lavender hair braided back into a bun at the back of his head, a human might assume he was still young. But Jim knew the forehead, nose and temple ridges that almost hid his deep-set lavender eyes were deeply creased by age.

Commander Weyone was almost fifty years Jim's senior, yet was still only a Commander by rank. When Jim had read the man's Starfleet record, he'd snatched him up quickly. When someone refused all promotions because to do so would take him out of his beloved kitchens, Jim knew that that kind of love for his craft would be a huge benefit to the ship. So far, Weyone's 'home-cooked' meals had proven Jim right.

"Commander Weyone?" Jim said as he walked up to him. "How's it going? Any more thefts?"

Weyone shook his head sadly. "No. But I have ceased setting out the ration packs, and now each crewman must thumbprint for their share. A most unsettling need."

Jim nodded. Weyone had a sixth sense for food storage and preparation, and what would be needed each shift. Weyone's kitchens had very little food waste and no spoilage. Jim knew that if Weyone limited anyone's access to food, it had to be by the CMO's command, they were prisoners, or in the unlikely situation they were in now.

"I agree. But you've read Doctor McCoy's list of signs of mental instability, so you know what to look for?"

"Yes. And food theft and hoarding would be a sign of that," Weyone said. "I was able to pin it down to seven missing ration packs, but not when or who."

"Just keep an eye out," Jim said, rubbing his face tiredly as he leaned a hip against a counter. "Speaking of ration packets...there's four more on their way to meet me here. One Vulcan and three humans."

Weyone nodded and went to a heavy door, unlocked it, and brought out several ration and water packs. Jim had eaten hours ago, at Ortega's desk. He hadn't really been hungry then, but he was now. Weyone set them down next to Jim with obvious dislike.

"Enjoy, Captain. As much as you can."

"Thank you, Commander," Jim said with a sigh. "Go ahead and get some sleep while you can. We'll lock up on our way out."

Weyone nodded and took his leave as Jim tore open the small packet that was labeled for human's. He held the ultra-concentrated nutrient bar and took a bite. Like a history of emergency rations before them, it tasted like cardboard.

_At least we don't have to try to have a meeting in Ortega's Ready Room. So much of the ship is still a mess._

Weyone had only been gone a moment when the door opened again, and Spock, Scotty, and Bones came in. Bones and Scotty looked tired and beat. Even Spock looked a little droopy around the edges. Jim waved toward the rations on the counter.

"Gentlemen, dig in. We can eat while we go over everything we've uncovered so far. I want to make sure we're all on the same page. Where's Chekov?"

"He should be on his way," Scotty said as the three trudged up and took their rations. "He was helping me in Engineering for a bit."

They then found some counter space to lean against, except Spock, who always preferred to stand. None looked enthusiastic about their meal.

"Let's get started. First," Jim began as he chewed on a bit of the bar, "Spock, restate where we are, and what happened when we failed to pull the  _Defiant_  out of the rift."

Spock nodded. "The _Enterprise_  and the  _Defiant_  have fallen into a pocket of null space. Here, entropy causes the bonds of various cells to fail and the material to disintegrate over time. Because of the tractor beam, we have also pulled in a single filament of the energy fibers the Tholians use for their containment web. Scans of the area shows only the two Starships, the bit of energy web, and various disintegrating bits of debris that read as destroyed shuttles and what was left of the ejected biomass from the  _Defiant_. We have found nothing else in this universe."

"Destroyed by the  _Defiant_? Or did they destroy themselves?" Bones asked.

"All signs are that the _Defiant_ fired upon them," Spock replied.

"So, now we know what happened to the shuttles," Bones said wearily. "And all the crewmen in them."

"We are still studying the area," Spock continued, "and hope to have more information on why the Tholian energy filament seems to be anchored in both this null space and our universe."

"Could be a way home," Jim added. He nodded toward Bones. "Your turn, Bones."

"First thing I saw in the CMO's records was how being in the rift affected the biomass, and the transporter." Bones's face grew angry. "In the rift itself, everything was fine. But as they spent more and more time in this null space, more things kept falling apart. Took them a while to find out that transporting in this space was a death sentence. You'd have thought that would be under the  _'we need to fucking know this'_  file, not hidden behind security. They lost some crew that way, trying to transport to some of the shuttles."

"Which was a timely warning you broadcast, by the way," Scotty said to Bones with feeling. "And I thank ya for that! I was about to beam some more of my men over from the  _Enterprise_  when you ordered an emergency shutdown of the transporter pads. We've done some tests that show that whatever gets disassembled in the transporter won't reassemble correctly. It's damned frightening. Shuttles  _only_  now between the two ships."

Chekov suddenly came through the door, looking beat, his hair standing on end and needing a shower and clean clothing. The kid had obviously been crawling around something scroungy. Jim nodded toward Chekov's ration and water, still on the counter. Chekov ran toward it like a starving man.

Bones continued, scowling at the ration bar in his hand.

"According to the CMO's restricted files, the violence and psychosis started as soon as they got trapped in the rift and null space. Tests show that the molecular structure of brain tissues in the central nervous system are distorting. I've got all my people, on both ships, working on it. There are some hopeful avenues we're following up."

"And how is the crew reacting?" Jim asked. "Chekov?"

Chekov shrugged as he took a bite of his bar. "Some fights. Minor injuries. No one's done any major damage."

"Which is why I've ordered mandatory down hours," Jim said. "I know we're tired. This space is messing with our minds. Going without sleep isn't going to help either ship. Chekov? What about the Environmental sections on both ships?"

"The biomass on the  _Enterprise_  ees also degrading," Chekov said around a mouthful. "The recyclers and replicators do not recognize the mass as usable, so the  _Enterprise_  has also gone on rationing. We have a couple of months of food left for both ships."

"We won't last months," Bones said grimly. "We'll start to kill each other off well before that."

"And the dead?" Jim asked Chekov.

The crew hadn't had much time to start canvassing the ship for the dead. But after Bones's shut down of the transporter, some crewmen from the  _Enterprise_  had volunteered to come over in the shuttles with more supplies, and more body bags. There hadn't been enough on the  _Enterprise_  or the  _Defiant_  for them all. They'd taken to wrapping them in blankets and removing them to the Rec Room, which was now a huge, frozen morgue.

Chekov frowned. "We have many missing, and presumed dead, on the shuttles or the Kelvin Pods. We have found over five hundred, and there are still search parties going room by room. It ees very time consuming, but I think we have cleared all the work areas, and much of the storage, where they had tried to build up defensive areas. We've had to burn through those to get to them."

"Check every room twice," Jim said. "I don't want to miss anyone."

"Over five hundred missing," Bones said with a sad shake of his head.

"The armory was broken into at some point," Jim said. "Several of the corridors show evidence of phaser fire. We know Captain Ortega had a phaser, set to kill, on the Bridge with him. All we can do is assume that they were vaporized."

They were silent for a moment.

"Now, for the elephant in the room," Jim said, taking a big breath as he looked at Chekov and Bones. "Scotty, Spock, and I now know what the unknown device in engineering is. And we think we know what happened to the  _Defiant._ Why it fell first into the rift, then the null zone."

Bones and Chekov both looked up with interest, waiting for Jim to speak again.

"It is," Jim said, "a cloaking device."

Both Bones's and Chekov's eyes got wide. Chekov's with curiosity, and Bones's in anger.

"They were sent to  _Tholian_  space with a  _cloaking device_?" Bones asked. "They were sent in... to  _spy_?"

Jim glanced at Spock and Scotty, both who had expressed the same sentiments in their own fashion once they’d learned the truth. They both seemed content to let Jim repeat the information to Chekov and Bones, their faces stony.

"The Tholians have never let anyone into their space, for mapping or exploration," Jim said grimly. "Apparently, the  _Defiant_  was chosen to test out the experimental cloaking device, and used it successfully before being ordered to covertly enter and map Tholian space."

"But don't we have an agreement with the Romulans that forbids a--"

"We do," Jim said. "Which is why Starfleet wanted the  _Defiant recovered_  or destroyed. If the Tholians find out the ship was in their space, and the Romulans find out we have a cloaking device, it could be war on two fronts."

"And probably why the brass wouldn't give us even a hint of what was going on," Scotty said with a scowl. "They did nae want us to know."

"And now that we do, there could be repercussions when we get back," Jim said grimly.

"And you think you know what happened to the  _Defiant_?" Chekov asked. "Why she ees stuck in this area of space?"

"The specifications on the design of the device are clear," Spock said. "The cloaking device does not work to deflect light around an object, as is the direction of most research I can find on the subject. It causes a slight distortion of space itself so that instruments cannot see the ship. Doing so would also warp light around the object, so it would be invisible to more than just sensors."

"And using it...did  _this_?" Bones asked.

"The Tholians have played with warping space in the past," Jim said, tossing the food wrapper on the counter. He kept his eyes on the water bottle in his hand, reliving the scene in his head as he'd read it in Ortega's report.

He continued. “The  _Defiant_  was on its way back to the Federation, with all the test results from the use of the cloaking device, and their undetected presence in the Tholian systems. They were under orders not to contact the Federation until they were outside the boundaries. They almost made it, but either the Tholians had done some testing of their own in this area, or it was a natural weakness between the universes. With the cloaking device on and warping space already, they hit this weak spot, and got trapped in it."

"They spent many weeks trapped at the inter-phase point," Spock added. "Sometimes in our universe, sometimes in the null space, and an unspecified time caught halfway between. Then during one of their efforts to extract themselves, they fell completely into the null space."

"They tried to get out, several times," Scotty added. "And during one of those times, they broadcast the Distress call. But their people were going mad. When more and more people started getting violent, there wasn't anywhere to put them when the cells got full."

"Except the shuttles," Jim said. "Then the shuttles tried to attack the ship, to reboard, and the Captain ordered them destroyed."

"They all went insane," Bones said, sounding stunned. "From the continual distortion of their higher functions."

"The loss of their food supply did nae help anything," Scotty said grimly.

"At one point, I think there was mutiny, and some were trapped on the Bridge, so they used the Kelvin Pods, and those who'd taken the auxiliary room shot them as they ejected." Jim sighed. "Cluster fuck, ship wide. Once the insanity spread, they quit leaving logs or entering the results of their experiments. They became paranoid and started destroying records and recordings. We may never know what all happened that last week or so."

"I saw some of those  _experiments_ ," Bones said, his eyes closed and his voice full of disgust. "The medics were  _torturing_  people, pure and simple. By the time they all killed each other, there wasn't much of their mental processes, or brain integrity, left."

"It won't happen to us," Jim said, hoping he sounded more confident than he was. "The  _Defiant_  almost got out of the rift at one point. They were solid when we first boarded it, in our universe. We also have prior warning as to the problem this null space has for sentient beings."

"We also have that bit 'o Tholian web," Scotty pointed out. "Can we use it to... pull ourselves out in some way?"

"That is a line of inquiry I, and the Science Department, are currently following," Spock said.

"Any more questions?" Jim asked after a moment of silence.

"I'm not even sure what to ask," Bones said tiredly.

"Spock, you send a full report to Bones, as well as to me, whenever you learn anything new," Jim ordered. "He's going to need as much information as he can get to find a cure for this space. Having months' worth of emergency rations won't do us any good if we're too insane to keep from killing each other."

"Agreed," Spock said.

"You too, Scotty," Jim said. "You three need to keep each other informed. We dodged one bullet by not using the transporter while in null space, and not losing people already. There may be other dangers we're not aware of. Assume there is. Question everything. Keep in contact with each other. Don't wait for me to read and respond to reports if it's important. Don't be afraid to contact Sulu, or your counterparts on the  _Enterprise_ , whenever you need to."

Jim looked at the three men before him. He gave them a small smile.

"One other thing we have that the  _Defiant_  didn't, was a crew who've already been to hell and back with each other. A crew that trusts each other. The  _Defiant's_  crew was too new, specially selected for this job. They didn't have what we have. I trust you all to make the hard, and important, decisions to get  _both ships_  out of this space and on our way home."

_Unless we all go insane and turn on each other. But before that happens, we'll give it our best shot._

"Now, we've been up long enough," Jim said, feeling the beginnings of a headache. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The ship is stable. We have fresh crew from the  _Enterprise_  continuing the work. Let's all get some sleep while we can. You're all excused."

Spock nodded and left.

"There's a cot in the dining room calling my name, after a shower." Scotty pushed off from the counter and yawned and stretched. "We do have a shower? Our water supply is good?"

"So far, the water situation is normal. The closest showers are down the hall, in the gym. Might be a wait, though," Jim told him as he turned to gather up the ration wrappers. With no recycler online, they'd have to manually collect and store their waste now.

Chekov shook his head. "I still need to check with Environmental about the waste situation. They had some questions about--"

" _Sleep_ , Pavel," Jim said gently. "If it can wait,  _sleep_  first. That's an order."

Chekov nodded but didn't look happy about it. "Da, I will."

Chekov and Scotty left together, leaving just Jim and Bones in the Galley kitchen.

Jim walked over to Bones, who was still leaning back on a kitchen counter. He looked tired and drained. The bags under his blood-shot eyes had matched Jim's in the mirrors in the gym's shower. Jim put his arms over Bones's shoulders and leaned in to give him a hug and kiss.

Bones responded, then sighed when Jim pulled back.

"I need to join Scotty in that shower," Bones said with a teasing grin.

"If I didn't know how beat you were, I might worry about that sentence," Jim said with a smile. "Go take one. The sonic cleaners are working; we can sleep in our underwear. I'll go grab us a tent if there's one empty, or a couple of cots."

Bones nodded, handed Jim his wrappers, and left for the shower.

Once the wrappers were disposed of, Jim left the kitchen, making sure the doors were locked. Then he walked down to the main doors to the Galley. There were a few people standing out in the corridor, eating rations. No one wanted to make any unnecessary noises where people were trying to sleep. Just as no one wanted to be woken up by people seeking their own beds. Everyone on the  _Defiant_  would sleep in these rooms. While it may be more noise and company than they were used to, Jim thought it would keep people from speculating on what dead might have been found in their rooms.

The  _Defiant_  had over a thousand ghosts attached to it now. There was always a feeling of safety in numbers. And if people started to act out, or go off the rails, there would be someone close by to get them contained, and to MedBay.

Jim made his way through those by the entrance, acknowledging them with a nod as he passed. Once into the dining area itself, he saw that a partition had been set up, so the dim light from the corridor wouldn't bother anyone sleeping every time it opened.

"Captain!" a young Ensign said, still keeping his voice down in the dim light, as he stepped up to Jim with a PADD in his hand. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you were on your way. Most came in in the last two hours, and I'm afraid we don't have any tents left--"

"No problem," Jim said with a smile as he kept his own voice low. He could hear the unavoidable sounds of people moving as quietly as they could behind the partition. "Can you find my husband and me two cots, together?"

The young Ensign looked at his PADD, the light from it framing his face. "We have two open, together, in the Officer's Mess. The room is much smaller, so we thought those on cots would get more privacy that way."

"Good idea," Jim said. "I'll take both. You can direct Doctor McCoy to them when he gets done with his shower."

The Ensign gave him the cot locations and pointed him to a table just around the partition that held folded linens and pillows for the cots.

Jim took his linen and pillow and headed down through the main dining room. The various one and two-man tents had been set up in about a dozen neat rows down the room, with some cots down by the now-opaque viewport. Set close together, the room now housed hundreds of crewmen, 'hot-bunking'. Which meant that whenever someone woke and vacated a space, someone else would bring in their linen and sleep in it. Here, with the tents set up, the light was very dim, but Jim could still see the way through. Once inside the doors of the Officer's Mess, it was darker still, with a few lights on the far wall to see by.

Around him, some were obviously sleeping. Others lying quietly, holding dim PADD's up to read. Some were tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable spot. Jim wove his way toward the back and found their two empty cots. Those who noticed him didn't try to get his attention or talk to him. Like them, he was here to sleep. If he could.

It didn't take him long to get his cot ready, choosing the one away from the wall, so that Bones would only have company on one side. He'd already cleaned his clothes in the gym, so stripped in the near darkness, placed his folded uniform under the cot, and made it. It was quickly done, and he set his comm for six hours, placing it under the cot, right under his head, set on vibrate only. He settled under the blanket and waited, conscious of the sounds of all the others in the room.

 _It's actually soothing,_ Jim realized.  _We've all had Academy training, so sleeping in large groups isn't something new. I could never have slept in Ortega's personal quarters, and neither could Bones. Even the quarters listed as empty had held some nasty surprises. This is so much better. There are hundreds of people around me who have my back like I have theirs. It's safe._

_For now, anyway._

He'd actually started to drift off when he realized Bones had arrived, carrying his own linens. Jim didn't say anything, just watched as Bones set up his cot and undressed down to his underwear. He set up his comm as well. Then slid into his own cot, trying to settle in as Jim turned toward him, on his side.

Quietly, Jim reached out his hand. Bones took it, gave his hand a quick squeeze in good night, then let go.

Now able to mentally settle with Bones safe and near, Jim drifted off.

 

***

 

The comm under his head startled McCoy out of his dreams, in which he was wandering corridors full of the dead. His heart pounding, it took him a few seconds to realize he was on a cot in the Officer's Mess, in the dark, with maybe fifty people around him. Living people. Another few seconds passed before he realized it was his comm buzzing under the cot. He twisted, reached down for it, and looked at the time.

_Three hours. I managed three hours._

All traces of sleep now gone, he walked with the comm to a corner away from sleepers and whispered into it.

"McCoy here."

"We need you in MedBay, Doctor."

"On my way."

It only took him a moment to slip into his uniform and grab all his linen. He was able to slip out through the crowded dining area and to the corridor without waking anyone. Especially Jim.

He could hear the loud arguing as soon as he came through the MedBay doors.

"I'm  _fine_! Just leave me the hell  _alone_! I don't  _need_  to be here!"

Nurse Branson came up to McCoy, excitement on her face. At the other end of the room, two security guards had their hands on a crewman's arms. His hands were locked together by restraints, and the two guards were keeping him sitting on the end of the biobed. McCoy didn't know his name, but he'd seen him and knew he was from Engineering.

"He attacked another crewman, and took their food," Branson whispered to McCoy as she got near. "He's afraid that everyone will eat it when he's not looking. So he needs to hoard it."

"Did he get harmed?" McCoy asked in confusion. There had already been some scuffles and arguments among the crew. All out of character, but so far manageable.

" _No_ , Sir."

"Then you woke me up because...?" McCoy asked with a raised eyebrow. Branson might take a long time to get to the point, but she wasn't stupid.

"We've been running a routine brain scan on all the Engineers, once a day, just like you ordered. His was just  _two hours ago!_ " Branson said excitedly. "He was normal two hours ago! We can see the changes happening!"

"We  _got_  one!" McCoy said excitedly, patting Branson on the arm as he moved past her to look at the readings of the man's biobed.

McCoy pulled up the man's readings from two hours ago and split-screened them with the current readings.

"Let me  _go!_ " the man shouted again as he tried to stand and leave, but was held down by the two guards. He started struggling harder. "I know what you're  _doing!_  You're going to lock me up and forget about me. You're going to lock me up! I'll  _starve!_  You'll eat all my  _food!_ "

McCoy could see the differences between the two displays. They were small, almost non-existent, but they were _there_. And best of all, the nurse hadn't given him anything to calm him down, which could interfere with the readings.

" _Crewman_ Akintola!" McCoy said loudly to the struggling man. "Calm  _down._ We'll  _get_ you some food.  _All_ you can eat. You can have  _mine!_ "

The crewman suddenly stopped struggling and swiveled his head to look at McCoy in surprise. "I can?"

"Sure. Just do me a favor, and let me run some tests on you," McCoy said, then shook his finger in the man's face. "But you have to  _hold still_ , answer all my questions, and  _don't_  fight the guards. Can you do that? For more food?"

McCoy watched as the man struggled with the decision. He could see the way the thought processes flickered through various parts of the man's brain. Akintola frowned, then nodded.

"Okay," Akintola said, still looking a bit unsure. "If you  _promise_."

"Cross my heart," McCoy said, making the motion with his left hand. "I'll show you."

McCoy nodded at the two guards to release their grip on him. Then turned to Branson.

"Go to the Galley. Wake Commander Weyone up if you have to. Tell him to sign me out my next three meals, and send them back with you."

"Doctor?" Branson asked, uncertainty on her face.

"Tell him to write  _my name_  on them, so we don't get them mixed up," McCoy told her, loud enough that Akintola heard him. "And to send Akintola's next three meals as well, with his name written on them. Do it.  _Now_."

"Yes! Sir!" Branson said, turning to leave the MedBay.

"See?" McCoy asked Akintola, who was watching them closely. "You can have mine  _and_  yours.  _If_  you behave."

Akintola seemed to settle with the idea. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

"You two," McCoy told the guards as he waved to the other side of the narrow room, "can stay out of the way, over there. While Akintola and I get to know each other better."

The two guards move off uncertainly, eyes on their prisoner.

"Guess what you get to do?" McCoy whispered to Akintola.

"What?" he asked, dark eyes wide.

"You get to  _trade me_  some blood and urine samples--"

"For more food?" Akintola asked hopefully.

" _If_ you behave. Then on the next shuttle in from the  _Enterprise_  I'll have them pack my own, personal, supply of  _Orion cookies_ for you."

" _Yeah_?" Akintola's eyes widened. Then he looked suspicious. "I've never had those."

"They're addictive, and have over five thousand calories each," McCoy said slyly. "Heck, one of those will keep you going for a couple of days! They're so good you have to save them for special occasions. Don't you want those as well?"

"Yeah." Akintola grinned. "I can behave. I can do that."

" _Good_. First thing is that I want you to lie down and let the biobed do a complete scan.  _Without moving_. Then we'll get to the other stuff. And when the nurse gets back, you can hold the food packs, so you know they're safe. Just don't eat any of it yet. Because then you won't have as much as you did before."

"Sure. Sure. Holding them is  _good_. Then I'll know they're safe."

McCoy helped Akintola lie back down and then started the scanning process. Then he wandered casually over to the guards.

"Keep an eye on him, but don't hurt him if you don't have to," McCoy said. "He could get violent, but hopefully not for a while yet."

They nodded, and McCoy moved down to the wall comm to call the labs and see who was in. If they were short staffed, he wanted the others woken up and brought in.

_Only two hours since the change. We may not be able to catch anyone else this early in the growth and development of the delusions and paranoia stages._

_He could be our breakthrough!_

 

 

***

 

 

"You need  _my_  cookies?" Jim asked with sleepy confusion as he walked down the corridor to the lift. He'd only woken up a few minutes ago to find McCoy dressed and standing at the foot of his cot, needing his permission for something. Someone else was snoring away in McCoy's cot, next to him.

Jim wanted,  _needed_ , coffee. But with strict rationing in place that wasn't going to happen. Once he'd dressed and they made their way into the outside corridor, McCoy had handed him a PADD with a list of items he wanted shipped over from the  _Enterprise_. Some deadly dangerous to move. And he wanted to know where Jim had stashed his Orion cookies in their apartment. McCoy needed them.

"I need some of those compounds from the  _Enterprise_ 's MedBay," McCoy explained grimly. "Some of them are really toxic, and I want to get your okay for testing. The outbreaks are starting to get worse, and we may be forced to do sentient trials."

"Testing on the crew."

McCoy winced. "You know I wouldn't go that far if I --"

"Didn't have to, I know." Jim looked at McCoy and could see the reluctance on his face. "You know I trust your judgment. Why check with me first?"

McCoy shook his head. "I  _saw_  what the  _Defiant_ 's Medteam did in there, Jim. None of us are immune to this area of space messing with our heads. I could wipe out almost half the ship with this stuff. I need you, and the rest of the crew, to protect yourselves from us, from  _me_. If I start to sound unhinged..."

"Gotcha," Jim said, thumb printing the transfer approval. "If you can explain it to me like that, you're still okay. But, why  _my_ cookies?"

"I promised them to a crewman if he'd hold still while I examined him," McCoy said with a sheepish smile. "I think he may hold our answer as to how this space is messing with our brains. This guy has a starvation phobia. And those cookies have like, thousands of calories each, which everyone knows. It's not like you  _need_ them, or that they're  _good_  for you."

"Which is why I hide them from you," Jim admitted with a sigh. "Because every cookie comes with the same lecture. Fine. They're in the kitchen, in the space behind the recycler. Since that's where you'd threaten to toss them when you found them the last time."

Jim handed the PADD back.

"I'll have a yeoman dig them out and send them on," McCoy said. "I have to be getting back. Some new lab tests are due to be finished in a bit."

Jim stopped outside the kitchen door, where there was a line. The door was open, and people coming out of the sleeping area were lining up to sign out for their first of three meals of the day for humans, and more or less for the other species, depending on daily requirements.

"Let's get breakfast first," Jim said, moving to stand at the back of the quickly moving line. "We can eat it here before heading to our stations."

"Uh... already had mine," McCoy said.

Jim glanced at McCoy and frowned. He could tell McCoy was lying. He was never very good at it.

"No, you haven't. Why say you have?"

"Well, I sort of gave today's meals away," McCoy said reluctantly, as he looked anywhere but at Jim. "I need to get back--"

"You gave them to the crewman with the starvation phobia."

"I need him to  _co-operate_ ," McCoy said with a shrug. "If we have to sedate him, or he gets all his adrenalin flowing because he's being threatened or stressed, it could throw off all his test results."

"Then I'll have Commander Weyone put in a waiver for you for today--"

"Jim!" McCoy said, leaning in to whisper. "That's not fair to--"

"They're being used for  _medical_  testing, so those rations can be written off," Jim said quickly. "Just don't give him a box of them if you can keep him calm with fewer. Besides, you're going to be handling dangerous chemicals," Jim reminded him. "I'd  _rather_  you weren't interrupted by your stomach during a crucial, and dangerous, point in that process."

"Okay, fine," McCoy said with a guilty look. "But I still need your cookies."

Jim just rolled his eyes. When it came to their turn, he left his thumbprint on a form that gave McCoy another day's rations to replace this one. They ate quickly, and in silence among the others who didn't want to take their meals to work.

Once on the Bridge, he headed for the Ready Room to catch up on reports. He noticed Spock leaving his station to follow.

"Anything new?" he asked Spock once the door had closed behind them. He continued to head for Ortega's desk and computer.

"Mr. Scott is now following up on a test run for the cloaking device," Spock said.

Jim sat down at the computer and looked up with a frown. "Since we don't need to hide ourselves in the null space, he thinks that turning it back on can help get us out?"

"There is a good possibility that, activated at the right time with the correct level of power, that we may be able to thin this area of space once again. Enough to allow us to break back into our universe. While this seems to be a natural weak spot, time will flow differently here than in our universe. The next,  _natural_ inter-phase event may leave us here for too long."

"Follow that up as far as you can. But I'm worried about the Tholians," Jim admitted. "They've been awful quiet from that side. Did they give up and leave when we disappeared, or are they waiting for us to come back, so they can finish the job of capturing us?"

"There is the time differential between a normal universe and the null space. We experienced that ourselves when we attempted to escape, and the  _Enterprise_  had several hours pass, while for us it was just a few minutes."

"Does that mean that when we do get out, months could have passed?" Jim asked.

"I believe the time phenomena fluctuates, as does the rift. There may be no way to tell. Also," Spock said. "Since the filament of web that was pulled in with us still exists, we can assume that it is still receiving energy from our universe. So I would expect that the Tholians are where we last saw them. In our space, and still weaving the web."

"And do you still think that we can use the filament as a way out?"

Spock tilted his head, thinking. He looked a bit uncertain.

"I have a theory, that could potentially pull the  _Defiant_  and the  _Enterprise_  out of the null space, through the rift, and into _a_  universe using the cloaking device."

" _A_  universe," Jim asked with concern, catching Spock's almost frown.

"Captain, there is a situation with the filament that I did not anticipate, nor discover, until just recently. The filament we see now has no 'end' as such. One side originates in our universe, the other seems to have been captured by, or slipped into, another."

"It's caught in the null, and  _two_ universes?" Jim sat back, surprised at the information.

"Correct, Captain."

"Can you tell which end is connected to ours?"

Spock looked unsettled. "I can not. Nor can the computer. The energy in the filament is stable, and is not actually flowing in either direction."

"And if we use the filament to get out?"

"We will need to be very close, and connected by tractor beams not only to it but each other as well. The  _Enterprise_  will need to be close enough to, once again, get caught in the warped space the cloaking device causes. We will both need to be going about warp four almost immediately, and head toward the area where the filament enters the null. That should be enough distortion to force our way through the rift, and to the other side. We will need to pick one end of the filament over the other."

"So, we could end up in another universe," Jim said. It wasn't a question. "A fifty-fifty guess."

"Yes."

_Great. Pick a direction with no information, and hope it's the right one._

"And if we find ourselves in another universe, will we be stuck there?" Jim asked.

_We've seen what falling into another universe can cause. I don't want to be the disruption of another universe, just by being there. But we're not going to fall on our swords, either. We'd just have to make the best of it._

"Uncertain, Captain. The area of space in the connected universe _should_ have a natural rift of its own, in the same spot. Otherwise, the filament would not have entered it as well. If we do not dislodge _that_  end of the filament, and the cloaking device still functions, we could retreat back into the rift and make the attempt again, in the other direction."

Jim sat back, arms crossed, trying to picture it all in his mind.

_Go through this all over again. With two ships. Twice the chances of losing one. Twice the odds of something going wrong._

"And if we had to do that, would we be able to tell which direction we came from, and which direction we needed to go? Or would we have to take another guess?"

Spock looked surprised, one eyebrow going up.

_He hadn't gotten that far yet. Inside an empty universe, we have nothing to use to navigate. Nothing to tell us what's up, down, right or left. We come in at a different angle, we'd never be able to orient ourselves._

"I do not know," Spock said frankly.

"Then let's leave a beacon," Jim said. "Find a way to lock it into some position, or orbit around the filament. If we come back through, I want to immediately know which end to head for to make another try for home. Especially if we have a limited number of attempts."

"I shall look into it."

"Good. Anything else?"

"The mood of the crew is becoming increasingly frustrated, angry, and hostile. We now have eight people in the brig, and four confined to MedBay. Injuries have been light, as any outbreaks have been stopped by other crewmen before they became too violent."

"But it is increasing."

"Yes."

"Bones has a lead on something, and is transferring some medical supplies and chemicals from the  _Enterprise_ ," Jim told him, giving him a weak smile. "He's hopeful, so I'll try to stay that way. How's the Bridge crew been?"

"Even tempered, as far as I can tell," Spock said. "We do have enough to keep everyone very busy. Keeping their minds on their work may be helping."

"Agreed," Jim said, drumming his fingers on the desk. "But we have a narrow bridge to walk here. We need answers, we need work for a distraction, but we can't tire people out. Stress could increase the likelihood of growing violence. And a tired crew can miss things. Find their reflexes dulled. We need to conserve food, but if they're hungry, then their minds won't be on their work. When it comes to making a break for it, I want the crew at peak performance.  _If_  we have that luxury."

"I agree."

"Has Sulu contacted us yet?"

"Not in the last seven hours."

"Then time to touch base again. Anything else I should know?"

When Spock said that there was not, they both went over the status of the two ships. Once he sent Spock back to the bridge to continue working on their escape plan, Jim had Uhura contact Sulu on the  _Enterprise_. Looking around Ortega's Ready Room while he waited for Sulu to respond, Jim felt an overwhelming wave of homesickness for his own ship.

 _It'll never be the same,_ Jim thought with a sigh.  _One day, I'll move on, and no other ship will be the same. I guess you never really get over your first love._

Then Sulu's face came on the computer screen, and he got back to work.

 

***

 

McCoy carefully made his way to the bridge with his locked and padded container. Now, thirteen hours after he'd gotten Jim out of bed, he'd finally made a breakthrough. With his people on the  _Defiant_  and the  _Enterprise_  making up a huge batch of the new serum for widespread distribution, he wanted to make sure the Bridge crew had their first dose.

He'd had his, and he had to admit either the breakthrough had given him a second wind, or he'd been more affected by the space around them than he'd supposed. His mood had grown more irritable and crankier as the day wore on. He'd even snapped at Nurse Branson, and she'd snapped right back.

_With more and more reports of people getting angry and violent on both ships, this has got to work. But even if it does, there's only so much of it we can make after this dose wears off._

_But even if it only puts off the inevitable for a day or so, that's hours of productivity we didn't have before._

They only had a limited supply of the chemicals he needed. With the replicators not working, even the simple things they needed were in short supply. It wasn't like they carried a huge supply of the main ingredient, either.

The Bridge was in the middle of something when he walked in. He knew immediately he shouldn't interrupt. Everyone was tense, watching the restored viewscreen. On one side was the Tholian filament, taking up most of the space. This close, it looked like a streak of pure sunlight with transparent tubes writhing inside, only their edges barely visible. On the other side of the screen, Sulu was scowling in concentration.

"Scotty, are we ready to test the cloaking device? You and Mr. Spock have re-routed the software around it, so it won't come on without us turning it on?"

"Aye, Sir. She won't come on without your order."

"Lieutenant Rhee, get us as close to the thread as you can," Jim ordered from the Command chair. "Sulu, we're maneuvering toward it. Once we get as close as we can, you need to move the  _Enterprise_  as close to us as you can get. This is just a test run, to see if the energy filament reacts to us and the device. So we won't be going to warp, or actually moving at all."

"Any particular location you want us to park?" Sulu asked from his half of the viewport screen.

"Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Below us should be sufficient," Spock said. "That will bring the  _Enterprise_  close to the cloaking device."

"Then, when we get positioned, we'll both focus one tractor beam on the energy filament and a second on each other." Jim turned to Chekov.

"Chekov, do you have the locations for the beams picked out yet?" Jim asked. "We'll need to make sure the structural integrity--"

"Of course!" Chekov spat, typing something on his console with some violence.

Jim froze and glanced at McCoy, seeing him on the Bridge for the first time. McCoy was at Chekov's side in an instant. He put his hand on Chekov's shoulder, only to have Chekov frown and shake it off violently.

Surprised, McCoy squatted down beside him and opened the container he'd carried with him.

Chekov was now staring with anger at his hands.

"You okay, kid?"

" _'Tchyo za ga 'lima?"_ Chekov exclaimed, his face twisted with anger. " _Otva 'li!_  I am  _not_ a child!

Suddenly, Chekov turned his chair and shoved McCoy. Off balance, McCoy fell back and slid down the few steps there were on the bridge.

"Chekov!" Jim yelled, as he waved at the ever-present security guards. "Sulu, hold on!"

McCoy scrambled up, reaching out to pull a vial from the container. Chekov stood up and looked around him, anger and frustration on his face. " _Nyet! Eto piz`dets!"_

"Chekov! Stand down!" Jim ordered, moving toward the viewscreen, making Chekov turn his back on most of the crew.

Someone held out their hand and helped McCoy up. McCoy didn't even see who it was, his eyes still on Chekov.

Chekov was angry, fairly vibrating with it. His fists were clenched and his eyes flashing in his flushed face. " _Nyet!_   ** _Nyet_** _!"_

Everyone around them stood still as McCoy signaled the security team to put down their phasers. When they did, he signaled them to take Chekov to the floor.

It was a quick fight. Chekov could defend himself fairly well, but the security team were big men, and Chekov wasn't in any condition to be cunning or to plan his responses.

"Down to the floor," McCoy ordered. "On his back, and hold his arms and legs."

Keeping close, but moving out of their way as they did so, they took a screaming and fighting Chekov down. Jim and Spock helped hold Chekov's legs while Security held his arms. McCoy straddled the struggling man, and popped the cork on the small vial. He leaned over as Chekov bucked under him.

"Someone hold his head!" McCoy yelled. "Keep his jaw free!"

Uhura was there in an instant, using her knees and hands on either side of Chekov's head to hold his head still.

Quickly, McCoy held Chekov's nostrils shut. After a moment of struggling, Chekov opened his mouth to yell. McCoy poured the medical mixture down one side of Chekov's throat. He didn't want to choke him.

Chekov swallowed it, made a face and started screaming.

"Talk him down," McCoy said to Uhura, tossing the vial back into the container.

Uhura crooned to him, saying something in Russian. She kept talking, while they all held him down.

Slowly, Chekov quit struggling. His breathing slowed, and he lost the angry flush on his face. McCoy pulled the small scanner from the pack at his waist and ran it over Chekov.

"Uhura? What was he saying?" Jim asked. "I know what  _nyet_  means."

Uhura shook her head and gave Jim a disbelieving look. "He basically said,  _'what the fuck'_ ,  _'fuck off'_  and 'this is  _fucked_  up."

"I think I'm disappointed," Jim said with a smile at Chekov. "And there I thought I was going to learn some really shocking Russian curse words. I thought maybe you'd actually called Bones something interesting."

"I do not think it was him I was mad at," Chekov said sheepishly. He then looked at McCoy. "But... Doctor? You are  _very_  heavy."

"That's _better_ ," McCoy said with a smile as he swiveled so he could get off of Chekov. He signaled the others that they could release him. "He  _did_  just call me  _fat_."

" _No!_ " Chekov protested. "I did  _not_ mean--"

"He's  _kidding_ ," Jim said, putting a hand on Chekov's shoulder as he stood up. "And that means he's found a cure to this space madness."

"Not a cure, but an antidote," McCoy said, picking up the container of vials and holding it out to the group. "Everyone here gets one, all species!"

They all started reaching in to take a vial. Soon, everyone on the Bridge was drinking their dose.

"Sulu!"

"Here, Doctor," Sulu said with a smile from the viewscreen.

"M'Benga should be on your Bridge at any moment. We're both starting mass-distribution."

"Looking forward to it, Doctor."

McCoy turned to see Jim grimace as he drank his share down.

"This tastes like..." Jim began, "like dirty feet, ink, and lemonade."

"I'm not even going to ask you how you know that," McCoy said, holding the container out for the empty vials. "It's probably the theragen dilution."

"Theragen?" Spock said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at his own empty vial. "A nerve gas used by the Klingons."

"Aye," Scotty said, looking at his empty vial with concern. "Deadly too."

"If I remember correctly," Spock said, returning his vial to the container, "it caused death only when used in pure form."

"The dilution, mixed with alcohol, deadens certain nerve impulses in the brain," McCoy said. "Keeps things from short circuiting."

"You said antidote,  _not_  cure?" Jim asked with concern.

"We need to take six ounces every thirteen hours or so," McCoy said.

"And this theragen dilution we have will provide how many doses?" Spock asked.

"Two more, for both crews," McCoy said with disappointment. "We'll be testing some other combinations, to find a derivative, but this is actually the best answer so far. We didn't carry a lot of theragen to start with. We're damned lucky that a tiny bit goes a long way."

"So, we have about forty hours before we start feeling the effects again," Jim said.

McCoy nodded. "Some more than other's I'm guessing. Those first to go the first time will probably be more prone to reacting again when this runs out."

"Then let's get this test done."

McCoy stayed on the Bridge during the test run. Everything seemed to go well. McCoy felt a bit wobbly at the same instant both ships reported that the rift had become a bit thinner. Sulu reported that they didn't see the  _Defiant_  go invisible, but Scotty had kept the power very low, and Spock conjectured that being so close to the  _Defiant_  meant that the  _Enterprise_  would not be invisible to them when it was switched on. In fact, if the  _Enterprise_  was close enough, the cloaking device might cloak them as well.

Scotty seemed convinced that going to warp two the next time wouldn't turn the device on, and Jim seemed happy with that.

"Good work, everyone!" Jim said as he got out of his chair. "Spock, Scotty, and McCoy, in the Ready Room with me."

The three of them followed Jim into the room. Once again, McCoy missed the room on the  _Enterprise_. Even if the room had been cleaned up, there would have been no place for everyone to sit. This one looked to have been more a private office than someplace the Division Heads could sit and talk.

Jim walked to the desk, and turned to sit on the edge, arms crossed.

"Bones has given us about forty more hours," Jim began. "While I don't want to wait until the last minute, I also don't want to make another try with the crew on the  _Defiant_  still so tired. The computers can do a lot, but I want our reflexes to be at their best, and our attention sharp. I'm suggesting a ten-hour stand down, both ships, with minimal crew to keep watch and everyone else sleeping or relaxing."

"I agree with that," McCoy said with a nod. "We're tired, stressed, and haven't slept well. Unless there's an emergency, then we need to do what we need to do."

Scotty shrugged. "I've got some tweaking I can do in that time."

"I'm talking  _sleep_ , Scotty," Jim admonished.

Scotty smiled smugly. "I can tweak in my sleep. It's relaxing."

Jim just shook his head. "Spock?"

"I see nothing at this time that would suggest this would be a problem, Captain."

"Fine. Spock how are you on keeping an eye on the bridge."

"I am functional for several more hours. I can meditate, and be back on the bridge in just three hours."

"Good," Jim said, rubbing his face tiredly. "I'll sleep better if one of us is here during this down time. But don't skip out on the meditation. We'll need you sharp as well. Let's get everyone off duty that we can, and spread the word that sleep and relaxation is the official ship-wide order, and we're back on duty in ten hours."

Jim pushed away from the desk. "I'll talk to Sulu, and see what he wants to do with the  _Enterprise_ 's crew. He'll have a better feel for the crew than I do, way over here. The rest of you are excused."

As McCoy turned to follow the other two out, Jim called him back.

"Bones, see if you can snag a tent for us if you get there first," Jim said with a sigh. "I think I'd rather sleep next to you in a sleeping bag, than on a cot."

"Will do. Just let me get my crew situation worked out. Shouldn't take very long."

"And keep your fingers crossed," Jim said to McCoy's back as he was leaving. "If we're lucky, we won't need those last two doses of your theragen dilution."

"And if we’re luckier still we’ll take the Tholians by surprise, and zoom right on by them, on our way home."

"That too," Jim said tiredly. "That too."

 

***

 

Jim sat in the Command chair on the  _Defiant_ , and tried not to look impatient. Fresh from a sleep that had seemed to take hours to achieve, his morning ration eaten, he'd gotten the ball rolling on their next attempt at escaping the null space. Now, he just needed to sit and wait for his people to do their jobs and report when they were ready. He wanted to get up and micro-manage, but he knew he'd just get in their way.

Bones looked even more restless. He had even started to pace when Jim had signaled him to sit in an empty chair so he wouldn't distract anyone. With just a skeleton crew on the Bridge, he had his choice of seats.

_At least the serum seems to be working. For a few more hours anyway. And Bones has another dose ready. Everyone has been released from the holding cells and MedBay on both ships. Thinking clearly and wanting to help, if not a bit embarrassed at their actions. Best cure for that is to just let them be part of the crew again. We all know it could have been any one of us, at any time. There but for the grace of God..._

Jim glanced over at Chekov, trying not to stare. The kid had even tried to apologize to Jim when they'd bumped into each other waiting in line for the showers. Jim had just smiled at him and told him to save his apology for when it'd be about something Chekov could have controlled. He'd also taken it well when Jim had put Spock on the Tactical station. Chekov was good, amazing even, but Jim wanted Spock in charge of the cloaking device. Vulcan's just had better reflexes.

The rest of the time off had seemed to have gone slowly. Maybe hoping for a full eight hours sleep had been wishful thinking. Jim had lain on his sleeping bag in the two-man tent quietly for a while, going back over reports on his PADD. Bones had been restless. If they'd been in their own cabin, they could have filled the time with sex or talk. Probably both. But that wasn't going to happen in a two-man tent, with their neighbor's tents butted up against theirs. Some around them might actually be asleep, and talk would only add to the soft noises of people coming and going right outside. In fact, the crewman on Jim's side was snoring, and someone a tent or two down was talking on their comm. Quietly, but in the close quarters, the hum of their voice could be heard.

After a while, Bones had sighed loudly, turned over and taken the PADD gently out of Jim's hand. He had then signaled him to come in for a cuddle. They'd kissed a bit, without making it too serious, and had just laid there and held each other until sleep came. As for privacy, cuddling, and sleep, it had been just enough to take the nervous edge off the up-and-coming struggle to get home.

He could only hope both crews had had the same benefit, and he hadn't just had them waste a lot of time. If so, then the dead crew resting in the Rec Room would have a lot more people joining them all too soon.

"Captain," Spock said, jolting Jim out of his thoughts. "We have all stations, on both ships, reporting in as ready to commence."

Jim signaled Uhura to bring Sulu up on the screen.

"We're all ready and willing," Sulu announced with a tight smile. "All systems go."

"I read you loud and clear," Jim said with a smile. "Let's get into place; then you settle in. Let Chekov set our tractor beams first, then you follow."

"Direction?" Sulu asked eyebrow raised.

"Spock?" Jim asked. "Are there  _any_  signs that one end of this filament leads to  _our_  universe?"

Spock looked unhappy at the question. "We have gone over all recordings of our fall into this space, and have turned all our equipment to analyzing the space around the filament's ends. There is no way to tell which end of the filament is attached to our universe, and which to another."

"Flip a coin?" Bones asked with a shrug. "Not like you have enough information for an educated guess."

Jim sighed. Bones was right. They had  _nothing_  to go on.

"No star to sail her by...that way," Jim said, pointing to the right side. "I'm right-handed. That's all I've got."

Spock nodded, and Sulu smiled before signing off.

It took them a few minutes to get into place. The  _Defiant_  inched next to the filament, facing their right. Tractor beams locked on the filament and the  _Enterprise_. The  _Enterprise_  under them, scarily close, attached to the  _Defiant_  and the filament with their own tractor beams. The beacon was set out, so if they had to come back this way, it would tell them what side they'd come from and where to go next.

Bones said something as everyone was getting set up, and Jim didn't quite catch it.

"What?" Jim asked.

"Like a  _monorail_ ," Bones said, his eyes on the screen. "We're hooked up to the filament like a monorail car is to its power rail. And we're riding the rail out to the end." He then looked at Jim with an amused smile and shrugged. "I'm  _Biological_  Sciences. It just now dawned on me what y'all were plannin' to do."

Jim just smiled back.

"All stations report ready," Spock announced, sitting at Chekov's station. Chekov sat at another science station, looking a bit relieved that Spock would be attending to the new device.

"Scotty? Are the engines on both ships ready? In sync?"

"Absolutely," Scotty said with confidence. "I can control both from here, down to the nano-second. Just give the word, and we'll be at warp four in a jiffy."

"Buckle in, everyone," Jim gave the same order over the  _Defiant's_  ship-wide comm. "Spock, let's do this."

"Cloaking device, level one," Spock announced.

Jim didn't know what they were supposed to feel. Especially in null space. But he could feel a little shimmer of the air around him and his stomach felt like he was in a freefall. The feeling started to intensify. Behind it, he could hear the power to the warp engines build up, and almost feel it in the walls around him.

"Two. Three. Four..." Spock counted as he fed more and more power to the device. "Five. Six. _Seven_... Mr. Scott, ready on my mark!"

By now, it felt as if the air were not only vibrating but that his vision started to stutter, making the world look like an old-fashioned film that was run too slow. Jim felt wobbly like he'd be falling out of his chair if he hadn't been belted in. If this kept up for too long, he'd be sick. Probably everyone else would as well.

"Now!" Spock yelled.

Scotty hit the control that suddenly commanded both ship's engines to hit warp. The gravity generator on the ship stuttered, and for a second Jim felt the force of gravity push him back against the chair as both ships moved in unison. The bright blur of the filament flashed on the viewscreen as they moved. Then everything went black, and the next thing Jim knew the world around him came back on-line.

_What? Did we...?_

He felt warm liquid on his face and blindly wiped at it. His nose was bleeding. Blinking, his thoughts blurry, he realized he was still strapped into the command chair. Around him, crew started to move. He wasn't the only one with a bloody nose.

_We plowed through something, that's for sure._

"Report!" he yelled, to no one, and everyone, as they stirred.

"We are  _out_  of the rift," Spock announced, sounding hoarse.

 _Yes!_ Jim thought.  _But is this the right universe?_

"Getting our bearings now," Lieutenant Rhee announced as she struggled to work the navigation console.

"There are  _no_  Tholians present, nor is the web they were building," Chekov announced from a spare science station. "But the end of the filament is... damaged."

The viewscreen flickered back on. Jim hadn't even noticed it was off. In front of them was a smattering of distant stars. The part of the filament they were still attached to looked dimmer, with one end seemingly appearing out of nowhere and the end away from the rift looking thin and ragged. As if it'd been torn from something.

He gave everyone a few minutes to catch up with their situation. Bones started to make the rounds of the bridge crew after he scanned Jim quickly. Jim was happy to see Bones didn't linger on any one person.

"Captain," Scotty said suddenly, up and out of his chair. "We have impulse, but we've  _lost_  the warp. I have to go check on the engines.  _Now_."

That didn't sound good and going by Scotty's expression, Jim thought it was worse than that.

"Captain, the local star maps check out," Lieutenant Rhee reported. Jim could hear the relief in her voice. "We're in the same spot in Tholian space as when we were pulled into the rift."

"Uhura. Contact the  _Enterprise_. I want Sulu's report on--"

"Captain!" Uhura looked over at him, her eyes wide as she adjusted her earpiece. "I'm getting some bleed-over from some main Federation frequencies we don't normally use. They're close in format to Federation data packets, but they're not tagged the same. They seem to be coming from... _Vulcan_."

"Vulcan?" Bones asked out loud in the suddenly quiet room.

"Uhura. Get Sulu," Jim said gravely, his hopes suddenly dashed. "And start recording what chatter you can. From anywhere."

"Yes, Sir."

Sulu's face was soon taking up the viewscreen. He looked grim.

"We're not--"

"No," Jim said, his voice clipped. "Apparently we're not. Do you have impulse?"

"Yes," Sulu said, "but I've been told warp is down."

"Spock," Jim turned toward his First Officer. "Can we move out of this space, away from the rift."

"If we stay with the impulse engines, yes," Spock said. "I would do so sooner rather than later. The rift in this universe may be as unstable as the one in ours."

"Sulu, detach from the filament! Get her away, about..." Jim looked at Spock.

"Point three, six, two parsecs should put us safely out of the rift's range, and into normal space."

"Do it," Jim ordered Sulu. "We'll be right behind. Chekov, drop our tractor beams. Rhee, follow the Enterprise out."

Jim stood, his mind wanting to run thousands of scenarios with very little data, as the crew worked around him. He didn't even notice Bones coming up to stand beside him.

"We're still  _alive_ ," Bones said very quietly. Gently. "We can replace our biomass here. Find food. Repair the engines. Not go space insane."

Jim turned to look at Bones and saw support. Not the blame he wanted to put on himself for making the wrong choice. He sighed.

"I thought glass half full was my job," Jim said, shaking his head. "We can survive here better than the null space, but it's not home."

"You'll  _get_  us there. Just gonna take a little longer."

Jim watched the stars on the viewscreen move as impulse carried both the  _Enterprise_ and the  _Defiant_  away from the rift.

_I wanted to get us **home** , but we're even further away, now. A fifty-fifty chance, and I blew it._

_Where are we? What kind of universe is this?_

_Is it as different as the one Nero found when he came upon ours?_

_Do we have any friends here?_

_I guess we'll have to find out, one way or the other._

 

 

 

***

Concluded in...

In the Mirror

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is concluded in "In the Mirror". I've posted it as two seperate stories, with one overall arc. I'm not a fan of cliff-hangers, so have waited to post both stories at the same time. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!


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